Frankovich says Public Health not involved in SJSU Football decision

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) – The San Jose State University Football Team is making the move to Humboldt State University this week to begin preparing for football season. The team will train in Arcata as there is currently an order against contact sports in Santa Clara County.

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said Public Health was notified the same day the arrangement was announced.

“Public Health was not a part of the decision-making process,” Frankovich said, “I have not been contacted by San Jose State University. However, I was contacted [Tuesday] by the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for Humboldt State University to let me know about the plan to move forward and I have since had some exchanges, just questions and things like that.”

According to Dr. Frankovich, a plan created by SJSU has now been provided to Public Health and is currently under review. Both universities will be responsible for testing, but Public Health will be involved in contact tracing.

“At this point, I think we need to focus on essentially making sure that this move is one that is seamless in Humboldt County, that it has minimal impact on our county, and by supporting the effort to build good safety plans around this, to ensure that adequate testing is being done, assisting with contact investigations, and just monitoring the progress of all this,” Frankovich said.