Players tested for COVID-19 upon return to campus
STILL WATER— Temperature checks, symptom monitoring and COVID- 19 testing procedures have begun as Oklahoma State welcomed some of its football players back into team facilities in the west end zone of Boone Pickens Stadium this week.
Athletes will be brought back in phases, according to information released Tuesday by the university addressing its plan for players, coaches and staff to return.
“We feel really good about this plan being as good as it can possibly be at this moment in time,” OSU deputy athletic director Chad Weiberg said. “We feel very confident that we are beginning to bring our student-athletes back in as safe a manner as we possibly can, but we're gonna monitor it every single day.
“I'm sure as things evolve, as we learn more, as our medical professionals learn more and are able to provide that information to us, we will make adjustments as we go along and continue to make it even better.”
Weiberg is one of several university officials on a task force overseeing athletes' return to campus, i ncluding doctors, athletic training staff and others.
The task force allowed the football team to determine which groups of players would be brought back in which phase, with specific groups for players rehabilitating an injury, newcomers, etc. All of the players will be on campus within the course of a week.
“The medical prof essi on a ls feel really good about how things are going so far ,” Wei berg said. “That's who I'm interested in knowing their thoughts and how they feel. From that standpoint, so far, so good.”
Players will be tested for COVID- 19 upon their initial return to the facility this week. If the test returns a negative result, players will be tested additionally only if the medical staff deems it necessary, or if further guidelines for testing are passed down by the Big 12 or NCAA.
Upon daily entry into the team facility, every player, coach and staff member will be subject to a series of health checks to receive a wristband granting them access to the facility.
OSU will make masks available, but them asks will not be required to be worn as long as social distancing and proper hygiene guidelines are followed.
“We've challenged our task force to look at this from the stand point of how we can bring our staff, our athletic department personnel and our student-athletes back together into this facility initially and provide them as safe an experience as they possibly can be in ,” head team physician Val Gene Iven said.
The task force addressed in its guidelines the requirements for hygiene within the facility, social distancing rules and the plan for handling a student-athlete who tests positive for COVID-19.
As stated by the Big 12, football players can begin voluntary conditioning and training activities in the campus athletic facility.
“Things are going to change as we go along ,” Weiberg said. “Every day, we get more health and medical guidance. A big part of the plan is being able to adjust as we l earn more.”
For now, the daily monitoring of players' and coaches' health symptoms is part of the new normal in the college football world.
“We' ll continue to do this until we' re guided otherwise by the medical team,” Weiberg said.