Little Rock Central suspended football workouts Thursday after learning of one of its players testing positive for the coronavirus.
Central Coach Kent Laster told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that a player in the program tested positive Wednesday. That player has not been at Central all week, Laster said. His last practice with the Tigers was July 9.
Laster said the player was believed to have been exposed to the virus in the last week. One of his parents had tested positive, which led to the player's positive test Wednesday.
While the player was not at practice this week, Central went ahead and halted Thursday's workout anyway.
"We're using all of our precautions and we want to make sure everybody is safe," Laster said.
Central, one of four high schools in the Little Rock School District, is the eighth known school in the state to have suspended athletic workouts because of a positive covid-19 case or exposure to the virus.
Clarksville had two football players test positive, while Jonesboro and Atkins each had one case from a football player, with Atkins' case coming in its junior high program. Little Rock Catholic has had three athletes test positive for covid-19. Lake Hamilton and Mountain Pine each had an athlete with a positive case. Carlisle shut down its program temporarily twice after having a football player exposed to the virus, but he later tested negative. Also, Carlisle announced Wednesday that a multi-sport athlete (basketball and softball) was exposed to the virus along with her sister who is in the school's band. The test results of those students are not known.
Catholic, Lake Hamilton and Mountain Pine did not announce the sport of the affected athletes, citing privacy laws.
During his news conference Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced a statewide face coverings executive order, effective Monday. For high school football programs across the state, coaches are already required to wear masks during workouts, while players must do so when not actively working out.
Also, Hutchinson announced that there were 817 new cases, bringing the state's total to 31,114. There were 12 new hospitalizations, increasing the total to 470. Also, there were six new deaths to make Arkansas' total of covid-19 fatalities 341.
Central has had workouts Monday through Thursday since high schools were allowed to have in-person workouts beginning again June 1 thanks to the state's health guidelines.
Guidelines set by the Arkansas Department of Health and the governor's office May 21 state that athletes, coaches and staff must be screened with a digital thermometer prior to any activity and answer questions, which include whether they've had a fever of 100.4 degrees or greater in the past two days, had a cough, difficulty breathing, a sore throat, a loss of taste or smell or have had contact with a person known to be infected with covid-19.
Laster said he hopes that workouts will resume Monday, pending health department approval. The player who has tested positive will quarantine for 14 days along with any other player who tests positive. Players were being tested Thursday.
Central has held workouts from Monday through Thursday. The Tigers have had at least 60 players attend every workout, Laster said. The players are split into offensive and defensive groups.
Laster said that he's been pleased with the Tigers' attendance this summer. With the guidelines, he and his staff have been working to make sure that equipment is sanitized before, during and after workouts.
"But we can't control what happens outside our program," Laster said.