Oklahoma State’s Amen Ogbongbemiga tests positive COVID-19

Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga said Tuesday he tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a protest in Tulsa.

Ogbongbemiga, a second-team All-Big 12 selection last year, made the announcement Tuesday night on Twitter.

This is a tough moment where the need to social distance is fighting with the desire to protest police brutality in the midst of the death of George Floyd. While it is unclear whether that is where Ogbongbemiga contracted the virus, he warns protesters that they need to be careful.

While he did not say when or where he got tested, OSU players were tested Monday when they return to campus for workouts. The Oklahoman reports that because of HIPPA reasons, OSU was not able to confirm if Ogbongbemiga was one of the players tested.

OSU has a task force set and rules for if this happens. According to an OSU release, the guidelines are as follows:

1) If a student-athlete, coach or support staff member tests positive for COVID-19, they will enter the quarantine protocol per medical, local/state health department and university guidelines and will begin to receive the appropriate monitoring and treatment from the team physician, athletic training staff and any other medical consultants.

2) The positive student-athlete will be moved to separate housing designated by OSU for quarantine purposes.

3) Appropriate contact tracing as per local/state health department and university guidelines will begin and all that have been in contact will be instructed to quarantine and have symptoms monitored for a period determined by health and medical officials. Contact tracing will begin with the student-athlete’s cohort/workout group.

4) After the determined quarantine time, if the traced contact group is not showing symptoms, they will be retested for COVID-19 prior to resuming activities. Upon receiving a negative test, they will await specific instructions from the team physician and/or the athletic training staff regarding a return to activities.

5) Upon recognition of symptomatic student-athletes and/or staff in the west end zone facility, the person will immediately be referred and directed to OSU University Health Services (or Stillwater Medical Center if after working hours) for evaluation, testing and treatment.

6) If needed, transportation to University Health Services or Stillwater Medical Center for symptomatic student-athletes will be provided from athletic training staff wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. {Oklahoman}

*Editors Note: While we strive to get news out on as timely a basis as we can, we wanted to show our support of #BlackTuesday by staying off the internet for the day, when the announcement was made. However we also did not want to ignore the situation and we made the decision to release a story early Wednesday morning.