Quarantine list growing before N.C. State game
More University of of Miami football players are in quarantine after an initial group of players was isolated last week with COVID-19-related issues, the Miami Herald learned Saturday.
The number of Hurricanes in quarantine is now well beyond the six who missed last week’s game against Virginia, a source close to the situation told the Herald. However, it was not specified how many players actually tested positive and how many were isolating due to contact tracing.
When UM athletic director Blake James was asked Saturday by the Herald if Miami’s COVID-19 situation has reached a point that UM (5-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is concerned about having practice or playing its scheduled game Friday night at North Carolina State (4-2, 4-2), James answered by text with one word: “No.”
Last week, a source told the Herald that some of the six freshmen who were announced out for the Virginia game had ntested positive for the virus and others were deemed close contacts after spending time off the field with those players. They’re all in isolation.
This is UM’s second bye weekend of the season, which means that coaches are being extra vigilant in trying to keep players safe and away from groups — especially on a night like Halloween, which college students obviously are known to celebrate.
Currently, players are tested three times a week: 72 hours before a game, the day before a game and within 48 hours after the conclusion of a game. Exposure to the virus by anyone deemed a close contact, even if not testing positive, means that person has to isolate for 14 days.
If a player tests positive for COVID-19, he must be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms/positive test and at least 24 hours after recovery, defined by the NCAA as “resolution of fever without the use of feverreducing medications and improvements of respiratory symptoms.”
This week, the highestprofile player in college tested positive for COVID-19, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and is isolating.
The six freshmen who were listed as unavailable for the Virginia game: safety Brian Balom, linebacker Corey Flagg, receiver Michael Redding III, receiver/return specialist Xavier Restrepo, defensive lineman Elijah Roberts and QB Tyler Van Dyke.
“As far as guys not available, this is just the reality of 2020,” UM coach Manny Diaz told WQAM last Monday, when asked about the “guys not available” for the Virginia game. “I know we’re all fatigued of it. We’re fatigued of talking about it. And we’re no different and I’m no different. We can feel it. The coronavirus is not going away. It is here. You can see the numbers where they’re at, all over the country.
“We have made sacrifices so long now to get to this point and it’s easy [to say]: ‘Do we have to continue to do all this and do all this and do all this?’ We have to. We made it this far and we’re a week away from November and we’ve got to continue to do the right things to try to keep these numbers down. I know our positivity rate is low but certainly sometimes that logs two weeks behind to actually what’s going on outside.
“Our players can feel it that it’s around again and it’s more prominent and we’ve got to really, really be smart and safe here to be able to play this football the last month.”