Yurachek outlines return to campus for student-athletes
FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said Wednesday that athletes returning to the UA campus in the coming days will undergo “very robust” physical examinations and screening, but will only be tested for COVID-19 if they are symptomatic.
Yurachek made the remarks on a video teleconference in advance of the reopening of some UA athletic facilities on June 8 in tandem with many other SEC athletic departments.
All on-campus athletic activities across the SEC have been suspended since March 13.
“Based on the recommendation of the SEC task force, our student-athletes, before they will be allowed to get into any of our facilities, they’ll have to pass a physical exam,” Yurachek said.
“There will be daily screenings for symptoms, they will be temperature screened, they will be asked to maintain social distancing.
“They will be asked to wear masks when entering and exiting the facilities. They will not be required to wear a mask while they’re working out.”
All staff members involved in working with athletes will be required to wear masks, based on the department’s re-opening guidelines, which were obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via a public-records request.
The Razorbacks are taking a four-phase approach to allowing athletes back on campus, including a hard date of June 8 for previously enrolled athletes in football, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, volleyball, and men’s and women’s cross country.
The following are tentative dates: June 22 for the winter sports of gymnastics, swimming and diving, and track and field; June 29 for incoming freshmen not previously enrolled in all fall sports and men’s and women’s basketball; July 6 for spring sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis.
Yurachek said he expects virtually all eligible football players will be in town for the start of voluntary workouts June 8.
The athletic department is working with the office of housing to find rooms for incoming freshmen in the June 29 wave in the select residence halls that remained open for international students.
Various health agencies have weighed in on whether there should be mandatory coronavirus testing, but the Razorbacks are not requiring it at this point.
“I’m sure many of you will want to know about testing,” Yurachek said.
“We will not test all of our student-athletes when they return to campus. That’s following [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines. That’s following the guidelines that the SEC medical task force provided to us.
“We will be testing student-athletes who are symptomatic following our daily screening process, and those student-athletes who are returning from any CDC-identified hot spots.”
Those hot spots include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Orleans.
Yurachek said a couple of current football players who are from New Orleans reported their arrival in the state to the Arkansas Department of Health and are currently undergoing a mandatory 14-day quarantine process.
Yurachek told parents of athletes who were involved in Zoom video conferences in the past several days that the Razorbacks are fully aware they could have a positive test on campus.
“I was very candid with the parents,” he said.
“I told them that there will be a student-athlete that tests positive for COVID-19 on our campus. But I think we’re equipped to handle that. We have a plan to handle that. And all we can do is mitigate their risk to COVID-19.
“There’s a great deal of onus that’s going to come on the shoulders of our student-athletes. They’re going to have to take part in following the protocols and following the plan that we have in place to protect them and those they may come in contact with.”
Screening for temperature and daily health will take place at each athletic facility, and those with temperatures of 100.4 degrees or above will not be allowed in and will undergo further testing.
More athletes are expected to begin arriving on campus next week, at which point, Yurachek said, they will “go through a very robust physical examination next weekend, and have to be cleared to participate in any activity starting June 8.
“Then we’ll shut down all of our facilities on Thursday and Friday of this week, and they will go through a very extreme disinfection and sanitation process in preparation for our student-athletes to return to campus and for some of our staff members to return to their work environments next week.”
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette received the UA’s 30-page presentation called “Guidelines for opening Razorback athletic venues” on Wednesday.
The detailed report on facility preparedness, sanitizing protocols, entrance and exit procedures from facilities and other issues outlined phased openings of athletic facilities, so not all workout areas on campus will be opened June 8.
The Phase 1 openings will be the weight rooms at the Smith Football Center, the Bev Lewis Center and the Basketball Performance Center; the Walker outdoor fields (for conditioning only); and the training rooms at the Smith Football Center, the Basketball Performance Center and Barnhill Arena.
Competition spaces, practice areas, locker rooms, athlete lounges, the hydrotherapy areas and equipment rooms will not open in Phase 1.
The report also contains maximum capacity guidelines for each facility, including 20 apiece in the upstairs and downstairs areas of the Smith Center; 10 in the training room at the Smith Center;, 15 in the Sutton weight room at the Bev Lewis Center; 7 each in the Basketball Performance Center training room and weight room; and 4 each in the Barnhill Arena training room and rehab room.
In the wide-ranging video conference, which included a question-and-answer session with reporters, Yurachek said the UA was still planning for full capacity at Reynolds Razorback Stadium but also planning for various stages of occupancy.
He was also asked about his conversations with officials at Nevada and Notre Dame, the Razorbacks’ first two opponents in football. Arkansas is scheduled to host Nevada on Sept. 5, and the Razorbacks have a road date at Notre Dame on Sept. 12.
“Nevada’s planning to be here on Sept. 5, and we’re planning to be at Notre Dame on Sept. 12,” Yurachek said. “Whether there’s limited capacity at any of those venues, it still remains to be seen, but we’re all still planning to have those games.”
Yurachek also was asked about furloughs or pay cuts for athletic department employees.
“There has not been a member of the university staff — remember we’re part of the university, and we will follow the lead of the university in regards to anything that happens with our faculty and staff — but there has not been anyone that has been furloughed,” he said. “There have not been any salary adjustments to any of our staff members to date.”
Yurachek discussed in his opening remarks the difficulties associated with dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
“As I know it has been for each of you, the past few months have probably been the most challenging of my career in college athletics with the many tough decisions having to be made,” he said.
“Today is May 27, and I go back to what everything looked like just two months ago and imagine two months from now what things will look like. We will make better decisions as an industry the further we get into the summer before we make many of those decisions.”