It had previously been reported that cardiac MRI scans revealed that 30-35 percent of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to have myocarditis, per Penn State’s director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli.
However, Sebastianelli provided clarification via a Penn State release after his comments were misunderstood during a State College Area school board of directors meeting on Sept. 3.
Regarding the claim that 30-35% of Big Ten athletes have been discovered to have heart conditions linked to Covid-19: It was incorrect.
Here is some clarification from Penn State.
"Dr. Sebastianelli wishes to clarify this point, and apologize for any confusion." pic.twitter.com/ATUc2FxDrU
— Kyle Bonagura (@BonaguraESPN) September 3, 2020
“Dr. Sebastianelli was asked by a local school board to discuss high school preparations and precautions for holding sporting events during the pandemic and the potential impact of COVID-19 on the health of student-athletes,” the release said. “During his discussion with board members, he recalled initially preliminary data that had been verbally shared by a colleague on a forthcoming study, which unbeknownst to him at the time had been published at a lower rate.
“The research was not conducted by Dr. Sebastianelli or Penn State. Dr. Sebastianelli wishes to clarify this point, and apologize for any confusion.
“Additionally, some have inferred his comments may have related directly to Penn State student-athletes. At this time, there have been no cases of myocarditis in COVID-19-positive student-athletes at Penn State. For questions related to the myocarditis study, please contact the study investigators.”
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