USC confirms first on-campus coronavirus cases

LOS ANGELES - USC officials confirmed om Wednesday the university first on-campus coronavirus cases, affecting three students.

The students were most recently in the Cale/Irani Residence Hall and Century Apartments from Saturday through Wednesday, according to a letter sent to USC students and employees.

They are currently in self-isolation off-campus and are doing well, the letter stated. USC is in the process of contacting all individuals who were exposed to the students, according to the letter.

USC also announced Wednesday it is pausing workouts in football and men's water polo until at least Monday after eight players on those teams tested positive for COVID-19 through the weekly surveillance testing program.

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The players contracted the virus off campus as a result of increased community spread and not via any on-campus or training activities, according to USC, citing information from contact tracing.

All eight players have been isolated.

Under Pac-12 Conference and public health guidelines, all USC workouts are outdoors and non-contact.

"We have effective mitigation strategies in place but out of an abundance of caution we are pausing athletics activities in football and men's water polo while we await additional test results and USC completes the contact tracing process," athletic director Mike Bohn said.

USC football and men's water polo players will undergo another round of COVID-19 testing this week.

There had been just one positive result among 654 tests conducted from July 18 through Friday on Trojan football, men's water polo, women's soccer, women's volleyball and men's and women's basketball players participating in on-campus workouts, including no positive results the past three weeks.