By By: Jacob Powers, Julia Terbeche and Madalyn Amato
According to students who wished to remain anonymous, individuals on the Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball team are believed to be the source of the on-campus coronavirus outbreak, potentially causing 11 residential students to test positive.
The athletics department was contacted but has yet to respond.
There are another 12 students off campus who have also tested positive, bringing the total number of CSULB students who have COVID-19 as a result of the outbreak to 23, according to associate vice president of strategic communications Jeff Cook.
Haylie Prochnow, a first-year theatre arts major, said she believes that it is possible she may have contracted COVID-19 in passing in the residence halls, although she is unsure of the source of her infection.
“It’s been kind of like hearsay among people on campus,” Prochnow said. “I had heard that they had thrown a party, I think, just among themselves.”
In relation to the outbreak originating from the Dirtbags players, Prochnow maintained that what she has heard has only been a rumor in the residence halls. Other housing students, who wished to remain anonymous, have said they are also aware of this rumor.
Joaquin Alonzo, a third-year computer science major said that he has seen a few players practicing at the park next to Parkside college when he has left to go to the store.
“Because they were practicing, I didn’t notice if they were abiding by the rules,” Alonzo said in reference to whether or not the Dirtbags players were social distancing or wearing masks.
Alonzo said he wasn’t surprised by the outbreak on campus.
“Though, before quarantine, I have seen people go out at night so I figured soon someone would test positive,” Alonzo said. “I have been quarantined before at Hillside because of a fever, but fortunately I tested negative and still tested negative during this quarantine.”
Per sources close to the Daily Forty-Niner, the Dirtbags players traveled to San Diego State University to attend a party with other students.
As of Oct. 2, SDSU has reported a total of 1,119 COVID-19 cases on its campus.
It is believed that the Dirtbags players are the on-campus residents whose positive test results prompted the quarantine that was put into place last Saturday.
Prochnow said her first COVID-19 test came back positive and, although her second test came back negative, she remains quarantined in Hillside College.
Since testing negative, Prochnow said she has not been given any new information from Housing and Residential Life since an email was sent out notifying her of her required relocation to Hillside College from Parkside College on Wednesday.
“It was just kind of interesting that, although I didn’t really exhibit any symptoms, it definitely wasn’t cool to have,” Prochnow said. “And like I know a lot of the common symptoms are like, fever, shortness of breath or something like that, and I had to walk carrying all the stuff to the dorms.”
Updates to follow as more information is obtained.
The 49er should really get the facts and not print hearsay articles . Especially with so much at stake on a very serious matter.
So much of this article is false !!!
Completely agree!!
Fake news
Can you say HIPPA violation, if true?
“The way officials decide how much information to release is affected by the population size. They need to make sure that whatever they say can’t refer to too small of a population that people will identify the individual or individuals.”