Voluntary workouts began Monday morning for 50 Saluki football and basketball student-athletes.
The SIU-C Athletics Department reports the workouts were given the green light after there were no positive COVID tests among those who entered through the Gate 1 return plan.The Gate 2 process starts this week with 77 more athletes returning for isolation, daily temperature checks and testing.
Other college athletic programs have not been as fortunate. Clemson reported 28 people — 23 of them on the football team — were found with COVID-19 since testing began for athletes and other personnel on June 8. The University of Houstonsuspended all voluntary workouts on campus earlier this month after six student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19, with symptoms. Five Alabama Crimson Tide footballplayers test positive in the first round of coronavirus testing conducted on June 5.
There is no national standardized testing protocol for athletes.