Two Marshall student athletes, one employee test positive for COVID-19

Marshall University announced Monday that two student-athletes and one employee have tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.

The Marshall University Athletics Department has been preparing to bring student-athletes back to campus for summer workouts during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The department is slowly bringing back the student-athletes, with the first team being football. All student-athletes and staff were tested prior to starting summer workouts that were scheduled to begin June 1.

Currently, the two-student athletes and employee are all asymptomatic, are in quarantine and are not believed to be related, per the university’s release.

“University and public health officials do not believe any of the three contracted the virus on campus,” the release said.

Tracy Smith, director of the university’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, his office, Marshall Health physicians Dr. Larry Dial and Dr. John Jasko and the Athletics Department are working together to ensure that protocols are being followed.

According to the release, the measures include:

  • “All student-athletes arriving on campus are in mandatory self-isolation for one week;
  • Following the completion of the self-isolation period, all student-athletes are tested for COVID-19 and must return a confirmed negative result before being allowed out of self-isolation;
  • All Athletics Department employees who come in close contact with student-athletes are being tested; and
  • Any student-athlete returning a positive test is required to quarantine and follow positive test guidelines. A student-athlete who tests positive will be required to secure a negative test before completing the quarantine period.”

The university did not release the names of the student-athletes and employee due to privacy regulations.

Taylor Huddleston can be contacted at [email protected].