San Diego State postponed Monday night’s football practice amid a rash of chickenpox cases that has increased from three to five Aztecs players.

SDSU head coach Rocky Long said the move was made as a precaution in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading even further.

“We’re canceling practice so that they can thoroughly clean the weight room and locker room and disinfect it so that we can have a clean environment tomorrow morning to help the spread of the virus,” Long said Monday evening. “There are five confirmed cases now and, hopefully, this will help stop the spread of it. I’m sure it will. … This will eliminate it being in there tomorrow morning.”

The SDSU weight room is shared by all the school’s sports teams, including in recent weeks the other fall sports of men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and women’s cross country. School officials said no chickenpox cases outside of the football team have been reported.


News of chickenpox on the team first broke after Saturday night’s practice when it was revealed that starting offensive lineman Ryan Pope and backup linebackers Tyler Morris and Temerick Harper had contracted the diesease.

The players were not identified in the two newest cases.

“The school is handling all information like that,” Long said.

An email from Gina Jacobs, the school’s interim chief communications officer, said: “We are in communication with County Public Health Services and will be working with them as needed going forward. The cases are still contained to just the football team and not the general student population (classes begin on Aug. 28). Athletics and Student Health Services are monitoring and evaluating student-athletes already on campus to identify if there are any additional cases and what additional prevention measures need to be taken to minimize further spread of the infection. SDSU recommends that all students consult their health care provider and obtain the recommended vaccination for chicken pox if they have never had chicken pox and have not been already immunized.”


Long said he expects the team to practice Tuesday afternoon as scheduled.

“We’re planning on it,” Long said. “We were going to scrimmage tomorrow. Now we’re going to do this (Monday night) practice and scrimmage on Wednesday.”

Morris was diagnosed with chickenpox on Friday and did not travel with the team to Miramar. Both Pope and Harper participated in Friday’s practice at the air station. They reported being sick on Saturday when they arrived for a midday walk-through. A doctor met with them on Saturday night and prescribed medication, Long said, as their teammates were taking the field for the Aztecs’ first scrimmage.

The recovery time is expected to be 1-3 weeks, depending on how the players respond with medication. Those players infected with chickenpox have been instructed to stay home, other than having daily visits with the doctor.


Over the weekend, Long said he was concerned the chickenpox count could grow to double digits, although Monday he downplayed the significance of the disease.

“I’m not concerned at all,” Long said. “It’s just like an injury. I still think it can spread. But, guess what, you can get a rash of injuries, too. I’ve been around where you’ve got four or five knee operations out of one scrimmage. Or six or seven concussions over a one-week period.

“This is a childhood disease that is not life threatening, and they’re going to get well.”

Asked what course of action they will recommend for the SDSU players once it is determined whether they have been vaccinated, Long said, “I’m waiting for the doctor to tell me. Our doctors don’t seem too concerned. It’s a sickness that you’re going to be sick for about a week, and then you’re going to heal up.”


SDSU opens the season Sept. 2 against UC Davis. The Aztecs play at Arizona State and home against Stanford the following two weeks. Dealing with chickenpox now is not as big of an issue as it would have been a month from now.

“I don’t think it’s critical right now because we’ve still got three weeks before game day,” Long said. “If this was the week of the game, I’d be very concerned.”

According to the university’s website, incoming SDSU students are required to have immunizations for measles, Hepatitis B, mumps and rubella. Chickenpox vaccination is listed among “other recommended vaccinations,” but is not required for admission. Two doses of the vaccine (administered 4-8 weeks apart) are advised for those who have never had the disease.

Jacobs said there haven’t been any recent cases of chickenpox in the main school population. Summer session ended two weeks ago and the fall semester is still two weeks away, so there have been few students on campus.


“Anytime there is an incident, we take it seriously and take the proper precautions to make sure the least number of students and others are impacted. We woule take that same approach no matter what.”


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kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney