An on-campus party at Rutgers that several athletes attended may have led to the coronavirus outbreak that forced the entire team into a two-week quarantine, NJ.com reported on Wednesday.
Fifteen Rutgers football players have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Judith Persichilli, New Jersey's state health commissioner.
Persichilli said during a news briefing in Trenton on Wednesday that there have been "several circumstances where indoor and outdoor gatherings in our state have led to community clusters of COVID-19." She included the party at Rutgers as one of a number of gatherings that led to coronavirus outbreaks.
A Rutgers spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rutgers on Saturday announced the football program would be quarantined after six positive COVID-19 tests in its latest cycle, bringing its total to 10 positive tests since players began returning to campus June 15.
"There's been an outbreak of Rutgers football players, with 15 of them currently testing positive,'' Persichilli said during Gov. Phil Murphy's news briefing.
"These examples that we shared today account for 125 new cases of COVID-19 in our state. Every single one of those cases has the potential to infect other people. Their grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, love ones, and if any one of them have underlying conditions ... the result could be fatal."
Rutgers is one of two Big Ten programs in quarantine right now. Michigan State's entire team has paused all workouts until at least Aug. 4 because of recent positive tests.