Penn State coach James Franklin and his family have been quarantined from the rest of society since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in full force in March. Now Franklin will find himself isolated from his family when the college football season begins.
During an interview with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” on Tuesday night, Franklin said that while in Pennsylvania training his Nittany Lions team, his wife, Fumi, and their two daughters, Shola and Addison, will remain in family vacation. house in Florida.
“There were a lot of tears, a lot of emotion to have this conversation,” Franklin said on the show. “So much distress for that.”
Franklin detailed his family’s situation earlier this spring, saying they had been in “lockdown” the entire time. Franklin’s daughter Addison suffers from sickle cell disease, a condition that compromises a person’s immune system. While the data suggests that COVID-19 has a very low death rate among children, it has a higher rate among people with compromised immune systems.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the Franklin family refuses to take risks.
Penn State players were allowed to voluntarily return to school for exercises beginning June 15, although Franklin also said “several players” decided not to return to school. The Penn State season is slated to start at home on September 5 against Akron.
