13 Ole Miss athletes test positive for COVID-19, constituting an outbreak

OXFORD — Ole Miss athletics has had its most severe cluster of COVID-19 cases in months.

According to a memo emailed to the university's students and faculty, 13 Ole Miss athletes and one employee tested positive for COVID-19. The memo says the individuals were tested earlier this week as "part of a mass screening for student-athletes returning to campus." The memo says that 11 of the 13 athletes play for the same team, but did not indicate which team that is.

A source with knowledge of the situation told the Clarion Ledger that the team with 11 positive cases is not the football team. The source requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made by the university.

Per the Mississippi State Department of Health's guidelines, this many positive cases constitutes an outbreak. 

"The 13 positive cases reported today were discovered in a mass screening of 274 individuals that are associated with athletics, and privacy concerns prevent us from being able to provide any details on their role in our department," Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said in a statement to the Clarion Ledger. "We will use this as a teaching moment to reinforce responsible social behavior with all those affiliated with our athletics programs and our campus community."

Mississippi health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Wednesday that the MSDH is investigating outbreaks at Ole Miss and Mississippi University for Women. Dobbs did not disclose how many positive cases he'd heard of at both universities but he indicated there are "many."

Ole Miss students began returning to campus over the weekend. The football team began full-speed practices on Monday as they build toward a start to a 10-game SEC season that is supposed to begin on Sept. 26.

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin elected not to answer on Monday when asked if he knew of any players on his team who were being quarantined with positive COVID-19 cases. When asked how many positive cases it would take for his team to stop practicing, Kiffin said he didn't have a specific answer in mind.

"We lean on our medical staff on that," Kiffin said. "We have not set an exact number. We like where we're at. We'll just go day-by-day. If it got to the point where we need to talk about shutting down, we'll talk about it. But we're moving forward. I just really listen. That's not my expertise."

SOURCE: Suss, Nick. "13 Ole Miss athletes test positive for COVID-19, constituting an outbreak." Clarion Ledger, 19 August 2020, https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/ole-miss/2020/08/19/13-ole-miss-athletes-positive-covid-19-officially-outbreak/5610788002/