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<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Last Monday, at a meeting with the State College Area Board of School Directors, Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli made some alarming comments about the Big Ten athletes as related to their symptoms from COVID-19.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sebastianelli, Penn State’s director of athletic medicine, noted that between 30-35 percent of the Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 showed symptoms of having inflammation of the heart, or Myocarditis, a potentially life-threatening condition. “When we looked at our COVID-positive athletes, whether they were symptomatic or not, 30 to roughly 35 percent of their heart muscles (were) inflamed,” Sebastianelli said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As written by mayoclinic.org, Myocarditis affects your heart’s muscle and its electrical system, reducing your heart’s ability to pump, and causing rapid or abnormal heart rhythms. It is the third-leading cause of sudden death in young people.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The issue of Myocarditis is said to be one of the main reasons why the Big Ten and PAC-12 both voted to postpone their fall sports seasons. “It&#8217;s still very early in the infection. Some of that has led to the Pac-12 and the Big Ten&#8217;s decision to sort of put a hiatus on what&#8217;s happening,&#8221; Sebastianelli stated at the Monday meeting. The decision to postpone the Big Ten conference occurred on August 11th, with Kevin Warren, the Big Ten Commisioner, issuing a statement saying, &#8220;The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That following Thursday, Penn State officials chose to clarify Sebastianelli’s statement, saying in a statement to ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, “During his discussion with board members, he recalled initial 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 clarification came from Scott Gilbert, a spokesman for the health department at Penn State. &#8220;The research was not conducted by Dr. Sebastianelli or Penn State. Dr. Sebastianelli wishes to clarify this point, and apologize for any confusion.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Author Bio</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Caitlin Cosentino</strong> ;studied Film and Digital Media at University of California, Santa Cruz, and is a creative writer. She currently lives in Los ;Angeles.</em></p>

Penn State Clarifies Statement by Dr. Sebastianelli on Myocarditis in Big Ten Players
Penn State Clarifies Statement by Dr. Sebastianelli on Myocarditis in Big Ten Players