USC To Pause Football, Men's Water Polo After Multiple Positive Coronavirus Tests
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- The University of Southern California is putting a temporary stop to workouts for football and men's water polo due to recent coronavirus cases.
Eight student-athletes have tested positive for coronavirus through the university's weekly surveillance testing program.
Officials said the students have all been isolated and the sports practices will be halted until at least Monday.
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USC Athletics said contact tracing showed that the virus was contracted off-campus through community spread.
They also reiterate that the risk of coronavirus exposure to school staff and students is low.
"We have effective mitigation strategies in place, but out of an abundance of caution we are pausing athletics activities in football and men's water polo while we await additional test results and USC completes the contact tracing process," said USC athletic director Mike Bohn.
USC football and men's water polo players will undergo another round of coronavirus testing this week.
Before Wednesday's announcement, there have been one positive coronavirus result from July 18 to August 21 among student-athletes doing on-campus workouts for football, men's water polo, women's soccer, women's volleyball and men's and women's basketball.
Under Pac-12 Conference and public health guidelines, all USC workouts are non-contact and outdoors.
Separately, 43 USC students this week tested positive for coronavirus.
The university's student health co-medical director, Dr. Kimberly Tilley, said 14 cases were identified through asymptomatic population testing, and 29 cases were identified through contact tracing. She said more than 100 students living off-campus were placed under a 14-day quarantine due to exposure.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)