Report: Rutgers Football's 15 Positive COVID-19 Tests Linked to Party

Fifteen Rutgers football players tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the entire team into a two-week quarantine period. 

Keith Sargeant of NJ.com reported the outbreak may be tied to several players attending a party. 

"There's been an outbreak of Rutgers football players, with 15 of them currently testing positive," New Jersey State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said. "These examples that we shared today account for 125 new cases of COVID-19 in our state. Every single one of those cases has the potential to infect other people. Their grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, loved ones, and if any of one of them have underlying conditions ... the result could be fatal."

Rutgers indefinitely halted player workouts Saturday as positive tests began rolling in. The school is the fifth among Big Ten schools (Michigan State, Ohio State, Maryland and Indiana) to have to stop workouts because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Big Ten has already canceled its entire non-conference slate, with hopes of playing a conference-only schedule in 2020. Conference commissioner Kevin Warren acknowledged the conference may not be able to hold a season earlier this month. 

"This is not a fait accompli that we're going to have sports in the fall," Warren said on Big Ten Network. "We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season in the Big Ten.

"We just wanted to make sure this was the next logical step to try and rely on our medical experts to keep our student-athletes at the center of all of our decisions and make sure they are as healthy as they can possibly be from a mental, physical and emotional wellness standpoint."

The NCAA has maintained it will not play fall sports unless it is deemed safe for students to be on campus. Many campuses are set to welcome back students in the coming weeks, though a large number are also offering online-only learning options. Some are only offering online learning for the fall semester.

Conferences also have to navigate difficult waters because they do not consider student-athletes employees. There are clear optics issues in having unpaid laborers on the field to preserve billions in revenue, none of which currently goes directly to the players, during a nationwide pandemic.