Penn State Reports Fewer COVID-19 Cases Among Athletes

Penn State reported fewer cases of COVID-19 among athletes last week, a trend James Franklin doesn't want to see change with daily testing.

Penn State on Wednesday reported fewer positive COVID-19 cases among athletes for the second consecutive week, a trend football coach James Franklin doesn't want to see changing with daily testing.

Penn State reported 16 new positive results among 987 tests conducted from Sept. 19-25. Nine results were pending. The athletic department does not release a breakdown of test results for specific teams.

Over the past two weeks, Penn State has reported 36 positive cases in athletes among more than 1,817 tests administered. That represented a significant drop over the previous two-week period, when Penn State reported 98 positive cases from Aug. 29-Sept. 11.

Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour has said that the rise coincided with the Aug. 24 start of in-person classes on campus.

The Penn State football team resumed practice Wednesday en route to its Oct. 24 opener at Indiana. Players and staff will undergo daily testing as part of the Big Ten's return-to-competition requirements.

Franklin said Wednesday that his team was doing well "in the new normal." He also cautioned that daily testing should not permit players and staff members to relax their habits regarding mask-wearing and distancing.

"I think we’re in a good place," Franklin said. "One of the things that we have to be careful of, the mistake in some other sports, is when you start testing every day, that’s not a cure-all. That doesn’t solve your issues. That’s just another layer of protection. That's just another layer of protocols. The most important thing that we can do is [with] our behavior, our choices.

"... I think some of the other leagues, once they started testing every single day, especially the professional leagues from the feedback we've gotten, is it kind of gave everybody a false sense of security, and they felt like they could go back to living the way they were living. And you're not going to. This is the new normal, and we all have to embrace that."

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