Cosby girls basketball coach Cody Lowe says he has tested positive for COVID-19

Cosby girls basketball coach Cody Lowe announced on Twitter he has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first coach in the Knox News coverage area to disclose a positive test for the disease caused by the coronavirus. 

Lowe, who's been the girls basketball coach since April 2017, tested positive Saturday morning and was in the hospital for three days, he said in his tweet. He is at home recovering now. 

"I'm doing all the precautions and staying in quarantine," he wrote on Twitter. "Will Lewis our assistant principal and athletic director most likely contacted you if you were in contact with me last week. I apologize and I'm distraught at the thought of making anybody sick." 

Cosby is in Cocke County, which has 31 reported cases of COVID-19 with no deaths as of Monday, according to the Tennessee Health Department. 

The girls basketball team started summer workouts June 1 and worked out three days last week. Coaches took each player's temperature before the workout, kept track of who was at practice and implemented social distancing, Lowe said in a direct message via Twitter to Knox News. 

On Friday night, Lowe checked himself into the hospital with a fever, nausea and chills. He stayed at the hospital overnight and tested positive for COVID-19 the next morning. 

He was discharged from the hospital Sunday evening and has to quarantine for 14 days. All of his players who were at workouts last week will get tested, he said. 

The TSSAA dead period started Monday and runs through July 5. During the dead period, all high school athletics facilities are closed, and coaches can have no interaction with their athletes. 

Schools do not have to inform the TSSAA if a coach tests positive for COVID-19, a TSSAA spokesperson said. 

When asked whether the team will continue workouts when the dead period ends, Lowe said he usually doesn't hold workouts in July because he has players who play soccer and volleyball and that those teams are preparing for their seasons. 

A Farragut high school football player tested positive for COVID-19 in the first weekend of June. The player did not have any symptoms and was on a 14-day quarantine away from the team. 

Lowe said he's "feeling a little better, it's no joke."