UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma tests positive for COVID-19
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has tested positive for COVID-19, the school announced Monday.
Auriemma had received both COVID-19 vaccines and was nine days from being fully vaccinated before testing positive on Sunday.
The UConn women will find out the dates and opponents for their first and second round games Monday evening in the NCAA Tournament selection show. UConn will either play March 21 and 23 or March 22 and 24 — meaning Auriemma will miss at least one of the Huskies’ tournament games.
Presumably, associate head coach Chris Dailey will take the reins for as long as Auriemma is away from the team. She is 10-0 when coaching the Huskies solo, which most recently includes a win over Oklahoma in December 2019.
Through contact tracing, the school did not deem that any other member of the team had been in close contact with Auriemma since Friday, March 12. Auriemma is isolating at home and is not experiencing any symptoms.
All Tier I personnel have tested negative for COVID-19 since daily testing commenced, per NCAA Tournament protocol, on Tuesday, March 9.
”After we received notification of the positive test result yesterday, we initiated contact tracing protocols, which included interviewing individual members of the basketball program and in-depth video analysis of practice,” director of sports medicine and head team physician Deena Casiero said in a statement.
“Only household close contacts were identified. Given the fact that we have been doing daily testing for the past seven days, we feel confident that we were able to catch this very early on in the disease process. The remainder of Tier I tested negative yesterday and today.”
The team is set to depart, as scheduled, for the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio Tuesday morning. Auriemma is permitted to rejoin the team on March 24 following a 10-day isolation period.
“I’m feeling well but disappointed that I will be away from the team for the next several days,” Auriemma said in a statement. “Fortunately, I have a great coaching staff who will lead us during my absence. This revelation is a reminder that, while there is a light at the end of the tunnel, we are not on the other side of this pandemic yet. The full effect of vaccines does not occur until 14 days after our last vaccine dose, and for those of us getting two-dose vaccine, that means we’re not in the clear after just one-dose. My team and I need to remain vigilant in the areas of mask-wearing and social distancing as we continue this fight against COVID.”