A youth basketball tournament in Rocklin, Calif., has been identified as the source of a coronavirus outbreak that has infected dozens of people, say Placer County health officials.
The county alleges that the owners of the Courtside Basketball Center refused to cancel tournaments and games, despite “being advised such operations are not allowed and with full knowledge that COVID-19 cases have been associated with activities at the facility.”
The tournament took place at the center at 1104 Tinker Road in unincorporated Rocklin, Calif., on Nov. 7 and 8.
The county reports that 30 people from multiple counties have tested positive for the virus following that event.
A director at Courtside, Olajuwon Jones, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the positive cases all came from the same team and he believes they were sick before playing in the tournament.
In September, Placer County Public Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson resigned after the county Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to end a COVID-19 emergency declaration passed March 3. She was replaced by interim Public Health Officer Rob Oldham.
Oldham told KCRA this week that county health officials had reached out to the owner of the basketball center multiple times over the past several months after the facility continued hosting tournaments.
“Unfortunately, Courtside Basketball’s owner has not been responsive to our outreach over many months,” Oldham said.
Officials are now urging anyone who visited the Courtside center in November to seek testing and advising those who were at the Nov. 7 and 8 event to quarantine.
Find the full county health alert here.