County clears SJSU for takeoff to Arizona
San Jose State plans to go ahead with a controversial plan to fly its undefeated football team to Arizona on Sunday for a bowl game as the coronavirus pandemic rages, and Santa Clara County officials say they can’t stop the team from leaving.
County officials believe the university is allowing its team, which returned last Sunday from a twoweek stay in Las Vegas, to break the county’s mandatory directive on travel, which requires a 10-day
quarantine for anyone entering from more than 150 miles away.
“That’s not leadership,” county executive Dr. Jeff Smith said. “It sends a message that the health of their players and the community and their families is less important than a football game.”
The school on Thursday argued that its plans for the trip “do not circumvent the county’s travel mandate” but at the same time admitted that the team “will be departing the county before the 10-day quarantine” because the Arizona Bowl game in Tucson on Thursday has mandatory meetings and pregame activities. If the quarantine were followed, the team would not be able to practice or travel to Tucson until the day before the game.
Players, coaches and staff had traveled from Las Vegas into San Jose International Airport “to allow student-athletes and staff who tested negative for COVID-19 and live out of the county to leave immediately after arriving in the county,” the university said. “Under county guidelines, those individuals who are merely passing through the county do not have to quarantine. Those staying in Santa Clara County will quarantine at home per county guidance. They have been instructed to leave only to get tested and to depart for Tucson.”
Smith said the school and team were “technically” in compliance with the county order. It was unclear whether members of the team who are county residents would be considered out of compliance with the quarantine if they traveled Sunday to Arizona, or whether they or the school could face fines.