After the death of a famous Alabama supporter, the Marion County Health Department is investigating whether someone who was in Indianapolis for the NCAA tournament last weekend was exposed to coronavirus by any Alabama resident.
Tuscaloosa News reported that Luke Ratliff, a 23-year-old student from Alabama, died on Friday of complications related to COVID-19. The newspaper reported that he attended the Alabama game against UCLA at Hinkle Fieldhouse last weekend, and returned to Tuscaloosa soon after. Ratliff was hospitalized earlier this week with an illness. He was a fan known as Fluffopotamus, known to many in his plaid jacket this season and the leader of the campus basketball support group Crimson Chaos.
The Marion County Department of Public Health confirmed to ESPN in a statement on Saturday that it had contacted the Alabama Department of Public Health.
“Based on recent news, the Marion County Department of Public Health and the Indiana State Department of Health are contacting the Alabama Department of Public Health to determine if anyone in Indianapolis may have been exposed to COVID -19 by an Alabama resident who has visited Indianapolis in the past few days, ” the county said in a statement provided by the NCAA. “We are conducting an investigation following standard county and state contact tracking procedures. ”
The NCAA did not immediately respond to ESPN’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.