Oregon State Aims To Start Voluntary Workouts Thursday

With the Oregon State athletic department kicking off a sequence of events on Monday that will lead to voluntary workouts starting on Thursday, BeaversEdge.com Managing Editor Brenden Slaughter shares what he learned from a zoom call that included Athletic Director Scott Barnes & Director of Sports Medicine, Dr. Doug Aukerman.

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Quick Hits

- Oregon State will start the voluntary workout process with 100-110 student-athletes spread across all sports. The football team will be returning in waves. After each successful week of workouts, the pool can be added to eventually bringing the team fully back together.

- Oregon State is planning on testing its student-athletes one time per week currently. Everything is subject to change, but that's the current plan. Once contact drills begin, the testing frequency could increase. Currently, the Beavers only have the nose-swab testing, but it's likely saliva testing could come soon.

- Scott Barnes and Doug Aukerman noted that education around COVID-19 has also been a huge point of emphasis. Whether it's been about how to slow the spread, how to feel comfortable coming forward if you do have symptoms, or having the players' families involved in discussions, the process for student-athletes knowing the proper precautions has been thorough.

- Barnes noted that the projected figure for the COVID-19 testing will be somewhere around half a million dollars.

- The process for bringing the student-athletes back began with a 14-day quarantine at home, before ultimately returning to campus for a COVID-19 test and a physical examination. If a student-athlete flies commercial in their return to Corvallis, they'll be quarantined until we get their test results back.

- While many thought actual workouts would commence on the 15th, Barnes noted that they actually won't start working out until Thursday, at the earliest, as it takes at least that much time to get the COVID-19 testing turned around. The Beavers began the initial phase of physicals and testing for those athletes today. Everyone in the workout facility will be wearing masks.

- Auckerman said that since the Beavers' new workout facility has ample space for social distant workouts, it will be divided so that two "pods" can be in the facility at the same time. Those pods will consist of 10 student-athletes each and it allows for ample room to be comfortable and safe.

- The pod groups were developed very strategically where players who have similar locker room placements and living arrangements were grouped together.

- Before entering the facilities, all student-athletes will be subject to a temperature screen and symptom check to confirm that nothing has changed in regard to their health. There also won't be any roaming around as you will be restricted to your "pod" to ensure that machines can be properly cleaned after use.

- Barnes confirmed that if athletes test positive, those numbers will be released, with the exception of the name of the individual. Additionally, he added that there was at least one positive coronavirus case amongst the student-athletes very early on several months ago.

What Scott Barnes & Dr. Doug Auckerman had to say:

Dr. Doug Auckerman:

"One thing we're asking all our student-athletes to do before returning is to self-monitor their symptoms and quarantine for 14 days. We want to take all the precautions to make sure we don't bring in an asymptomatic coronavirus carrier into the Corvallis community. We've been blessed to not have too many coronavirus cases here in Benton County and we're hoping to keep it that way."

"If a player tests positive, we'll have to be in lockstep with our local health officials. We will take their lead on getting them quarantined, isolated, and help in any way we can with the contact tracing that will follow."

Scott Barnes:

"We can control their environment here, but we need our student-athletes to be health leaders and champions outside by taking all the precautions to stay safe. They have to lead in making the right decisions, meaning the following social distancing measures outside of the facility, and staying sanitized. We're preaching education and ownership throughout the process. We're hopeful they'll take this very seriously."