Star Linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga Says He’s Tested Positive for COVID-19

On the week that OSU football players were allowed to return to campus, one of the Cowboys’ top defenders has tested positive for COVID-19.

On Tuesday, senior linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga said that he has tested positive for the virus after attending a Black Lives Matter protest.

After attending a protest in Tulsa AND being well protective of myself, I have tested positive for COVID-19. Please, if you are going to protest, take care of yourself and stay safe.

— Amen Ogbongbemiga (@closedprayer) June 3, 2020

He later clarified that he could not conclude that he got the virus at the protest but rather that he was encouraging folks to wear protective gear if they protest. While it’s not known exactly when he caught it, Ogbongbemiga was asymptomatic.

According to the CDC, “the incubation period for COVID-19 is thought to extend up to 14 days, with a median time of 4-5 days.” This means that the time between when someone catches the virus and when symptoms start to show could feasibly be as long as two weeks. Update: This would not necessarily apply to Ogbongbemiga because he was asymptomatic.

Football players were allowed to return to campus this week — and many did so on Monday — with a return to offseason workouts coming on June 15. It’s unclear whether Ogbongbemiga was part of the first wave of players back in Stillwater. (Update: Bill Haisten says he was). Testing each student-athlete for COVID-19 was Step 1 in OSU’s multi-part preparation process for the start of summer training and fall games.

According to OSU — which released guidelines on what happens if a student-athlete gets COVID-19 Tuesday — it seems as if Ogbongbemiga will now enter quarantine. Here is OSU’s plan if he does enter quarantine.

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

Obviously the contract tracing would not apply in the same way as stated above to Ogbongbemiga because OSU has not started summer workouts.

Ogbongbemiga earned second-team All-Big 12 honors after he and Malcolm Rodriguez were the first pair of Cowboys to reach at least 100 tackles each in a season during the Mike Gundy era.