At least a dozen athletes have tested positive at the University of Mississippi, with classes set to resume there next week. It comes as COVID-19 concerns spread across college campuses nationwide. Michigan State is the latest university to scrap in-person classes.
“I think time will tell whether this is the right decision or not,” said Michigan State President Samuel Stanley.
Analise Macksood was just moving into her freshman dorm after a lost spring. “We’re like, your kidding,” Macksood said.
“Prom, finals, graduation, everything. Summer hit and we were told, ‘Oh, you get a whole new fresh start in college,’ and then that gets taken away.” she told CBS News. “It sucks, to be honest. It sucks.”
Michigan State joins Notre Dame and North Carolina to go virtual this fall. Nationwide, more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported on college campuses since July.
Other schools are keeping students on campus for now. Like Auburn, which is trying to educate and play football.
Thirty-three members of the Auburn football team tested positive earlier this summer. Now, school is starting. Masks are required, and not everyone is listening.
In Mississippi, state health officials are investigating outbreaks at the University of Mississippi and the Mississippi University for Women, the state’s health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, announced Wednesday, CBS Jackson affiliate WJTV reported.
Fourteen people, thirteen student-athletes and one employee have tested positive for the virus, officials at the University of Mississippi said in an email to students, according to WJTV. Eleven of the young athletes are members of the same team, the officials said.
And at the recently completed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where nearly half a million people gathered with little regard to social distancing and mask-wearing, a warning from the South Dakota Department of Health: A bar patron tested positive last week. Those in the area are urged to get tested.