After 3 players get chicken pox, San Diego State hoping there aren't more cases
San Diego State is taking precautions to ensure no more players come down with chicken pox.
Three players have gotten the virus and head coach Rocky Long told the San Diego Union Tribune that he’s worried more players could get infected.
“I’m afraid that it might not be just three of them,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said after Saturday night’s scrimmage. “The team’s been together for a whole week now.
“It’s dramatic if we lose a few more. … What if it hits 10 other ones?”
The three players with the virus so far are linebackers Temerick Harper and Tyler Morris and guard Ryan Pope. Long said football training staff are scrambling to find out which players have and haven’t been vaccinated against the virus so they can figure out which players are at a higher risk than others.
Long told the paper they expect to know this week whether or not the outbreak will spread, though they hope it’s just a few sporadic cases.
Thankfully for the Aztecs, they’re one of the many teams that opens the season on Sep. 2 and not a week earlier. And if more players come down with the virus, the first game is supposed to be a manageable contest vs. UC Davis. The concern would be a depleted team against Arizona State and Stanford the next two weeks.
And it also raises the issue of just how important vaccinations are in a first-world society. Virus outbreaks can be fostered by parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids. You can take major steps to prevent stuff like this if you listen to your doctors (and not celebrities) and vaccinate your children.
“I didn’t think anybody got chickenpox anymore,” Long said. “Not in the United States. I thought that was done. I was shocked.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
