10
Thursday, June 25, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Michigan reports two positive
COVID-19 tests from student athletes
Of
the
221
COVID-19
tests
performed
on
student-
athletes as Michigan began its
reintroduction of athletes on
campus, two came back positive.
The univeristy did not reveal
which sport those athletes play,
but for now only men’s basketball,
women’s basketball and football
athletes are allowed back on
campus.
“To date we’ve performed 221
tests, and we’ve had 2 positive
results on student-athletes,” head
team physician Dr. Sami Rifat said
in a Zoom conference Thursday.
“Both of those individuals were
completely asymptomatic at the
time of the testing. None of our
staff have tested positive to date.”
Those numbers align with
the
percentage
of
cases
in
Washtenaw county, which is
hovering at around 0.46 percent
of the population.
“We know from our local
hospitals that screen everybody
that’s coming in for procedures
that they’re coming in at about
1 percent,” Rifat said. “So in our
community here. So we kind of
expect that to be the number that
we see and right now we’re just
about at that number.”
The news comes as other
universities around the country
recall their athletes for voluntary
workouts, with Texas reporting
13 of its football players tested
positive. The tests are a part
of Michigan’s move towards
allowing athletes back on campus
and were caught prior to any use
of athletic facilities.
As a part of the athletic
department’s
plan
to
limit
and
react
to
positive
tests,
the university will cooperate
with
Washtenaw
county’s
Environmental Health and Safety
department
on
implementing
contact-tracing within campus.
For now, they will not be using
any contact-tracing apps, but
officials emphasized the fluidity
of the situation.
Should
an
individual
test
positive outside of their initial test
and quarantine upon return to
campus, the athletic department
will work to quarantine that
individual and any close-or-
immediate contacts until they
are no longer contagious.
“They
will
be
contacted
by a slew of people on a daily
basis,” senior associate athletic
director Darryl Conway said
on the same Zoom call. “Their
athletic trainer will check in
on them every single day. The
team dietitian will check in with
them. Their academic counselor
will check in with them to make
sure they’re staying up from
an academic stand point. And
then we’ll do everything we can
to address their mental health,
so our athletic counselors will
also check in with them to make
sure their mental health is being
addressed.”
Additionally, Conway noted,
the University has established
a network of communication
between
coaches,
players,
trainers
and
administration
should any player test positive
in order to keep every person as
informed as possible.
As
more
student-athletes
return to campus, more will test
positive for COVID-19. Michigan
hopes the protocols it’s taken will
not only prevent the introduction
of the virus into its athletic
spaces, but will halt its spread
should
an
already-introduced
athlete contract it through open
communication
with
campus,
teams and player personnel.
‘M’ not planning to
isolate student athletes
In response to Dr. Anthony
Fauci’s statement Tuesday about the
safety of sports returning and the
idea that teams need a ‘bubble’ to
play safely, athletic director Warde
Manuel was clear:
“We will not isolate our student
athletes … They are not professionals
and we won’t get into a situation
where we are placing them into a
hotel continuously to isolate them
from their fellow students and
whomever else.”
Manuel just doesn’t see that as
any part of the athletic department’s
future plans, no matter who said it
might be necessary.
“If that is the only way that we
have to proceed, then we have to
make other decisions,” Manuel said
in a press conference Thursday
afternoon.
He was not clear on what
‘other decisions’ may entail and
whether or not those decisions
would directly impact whether fall
sports, including football, would be
played. In a constantly fluctuating
offseason, those decisions will only
become clear as time passes, and the
only thing to do currently is wait.
“We are waiting. We’ve waited
this long,” Manuel said. “As we move
forward, we are trying to slow our
decision making while increasingly
looking at every piece of information
and talking through all of the details
that go on.”
A large piece of information that
will impact the athletics decision
is
University
President
Mark
Schlissel’s pending decision on
students’ ability to return to campus
this fall. Schlissel has already stated
that if students do not return,
neither will sports.
“I stand by that statement and I
think he stands by his statement,”
Manuel said. “ … If it’s declared that
our students can’t come back to
campus for class, why would I ask
my student athletes to come back
and participate in sports? It’s against
how I think about our student
athletes. They are students first.
“ … (Schlissel) was on the same
page as me from day one.”
Manuel’s stance on both issues
boils down rather simply: athletes
are part of the student body, and
separating them from it for athletics
News about upcoming season to come in late June, early July
With Michigan allowing football
and men’s and women’s basketball
student-athletes back on campus for
voluntary workouts, eyes are now
turning towards the result of that
offseason training: a season. Still, for
now, there are no answers on what a
football season will look like.
“We’re working, and I hope that
we can move forward and start
competitions in the fall,” athletic
director Warde Manuel said in a Zoom
call with reporters on Thursday. “I’m
hopeful that the decision will come
towards the end of this month or early
July.”
Currently, with programs across
the country welcoming athletes back,
the general consensus is that there will
be a football season. The only question
is what it will look like in terms of fan
presence.
“I can tell you it won’t be normal,”
Manuel said. “We won’t have 110,000
people in Michigan stadium this year.
That’s a definitive. Will it be 50 percent
or 30 percent or 20 percent or 10 or 0,
I’m not sure. That’ll be a combination
of listening to our public health
officials on the capacity our stadium
can handle given the direction that is
put out by the governor’s office or the
university.”
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is
allowing stadiums to hold 50 percent
of their capacity, despite health
officials warning of its dangers.
Michigan, though, responded to
COVID-19 in a much stronger manner
than Texas, and it’s unlikely that
Michigan Stadium will hold 50,000
people on a Saturday this year, despite
the rate of new cases steadily declining
over the past two months.
Still,
Manuel
emphasized
throughout his Zoom call the fluidity
of the situation, and the past three
weeks have proven that statement
to be true. With massive protests
for racial justice across the country
congregating large amounts of people,
the results of those gatherings and
the transmission of COVID-19 will
become clearer, perhaps educating
officials on the amount of fans allowed
safely within a stadium.
“As soon as we have more definitive
answers about the season, what
it’ll look like, those types of things,”
Manuel said. “Then we can implement
many of the different models we have
in place for ticketing, operations and
participation.”
Football makes up a large part of
the athletic department’s revenue and
the loss of any ticket sales will have
massive repercussions for its operating
budget,
with
the
consequences
unknown.
For now, though, the resocialization
of student-athletes brings the promise
of fall sports and football. In late June
or July, we’ll know what it’ll look like.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Warde Manuel addressed the athletic department’s decisions regarding athletes returning.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Summer Managing Sports Editor
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Stadiums could be relatively empty in the upcoming athletics season.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Summer Managing Sports Editor