UConn: No positive tests among returning athletes

UConn athletics has performed 150 COVID-19 tests on student-athletes since June 19 and zero tests have come back positive, the school announced Friday.

“While this is good news, it is certainly no time to relax the standards and protocols we have in place to ensure the safety of our student-athletes and staff,” athletic director David Benedict said in a statement. “We will remain vigilant throughout this process.

“I’d like to commend our public health officials and medical staff for planning and implementing these protocols while also passing along my gratitude to our studentathletes and staff for adhering to the guidelines. It is my expectation that a future positive test is inevitable but I am confident that the procedures we have in place will mitigate any community spread.”

Members of men’s basketball team were the first to return to campus June 19, followed by the football team beginning on

July 1, ahead of voluntary workouts. The bulk of UConn’s negative tests are clearly from football players; men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley told media last week that nine of his 13 scholarship players are on campus.

As campuses across the country have welcomed back student athletes over the last month or so, many have had athletes and/or staff test positive for COVID-19, with schools such as Louisville, North

Carolina and Ohio State even needing to suspend workouts to prevent further spread. One estimate says that there are 436 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 60 schools, with many of which are clustered in the South and Midwest.

UConn submitted its re-entry plan for men’s basketball and football to the state’s Higher Education Committee as a pilot program ahead of the general student body’s return to campus next month.

As part of the plan, student athletes returning to campus had to test negative for COVID-19, enter a modified quarantine period, and then pass a physical exam before being cleared to begin training. Athletes and staff must also undergo daily screenings before entering facilities and participate in social distancing and other safe practices.

On-field football activities with coaches present can begin Saturday, with UConn’s first date of competition currently set for Sept. 3. Coronavirus has altered UConn’s schedule already, with the Big Ten and possibly the ACC playing in-conference games only. UConn, an independent, has to reschedule at least two open dates and perhaps more.

The basketball teams can start on-court coach-supervised activities July 20. The women’s basketball team is planning on convening in Storrs the last week of July.

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com