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

