Virus surge causes concern, frustration
Programs dealing with postponements, cancellations
With nine wins in its first 10 games, the Towson women’s basketball team was enjoying its hottest start since the 2006-07 squad opened that season with a 10-1 record.
Then on Dec. 13, a Tigers player tested positive for the coronavirus, and games against Memphis the following day and at Penn State on Wednesday were quickly scuttled. That the program has had to hit the pause button amid a promising campaign is another exercise in patience for Towson, which endured one self-reported pause last winter.
“It’s very frustrating, especially when everybody feels really good,” coach Diane Richardson said Monday morning. “With the positive test and the contact tracing and the waiting for results, it’s frustrating because we just don’t know. It’s tough not being able to play those games that we were prepared to play, especially with us being on fire this year.”
After a relatively quiet summer and fall, the coronavirus pandemic is surging again with the emergence of the omicron variant and is wreaking havoc on sports at all levels. The NFL rescheduled three games as teams were decimated by positive cases and revised its protocols for testing. As of Sunday, there were at least 68 NBA players ruled out or would have been ruled out to play due to protocols and seven games postponed. Six NHL teams suspended their seasons through Christmas.
Locally, Howard, Baltimore and Montgomery counties have recently suspended high school athletics and extracurricular activities as cases surge, while Prince George’s County moved back to virtual learning altogether until mid-January.
The virus has flooded the NCAA basketball landscape too. As of Monday morning, 38 men’s programs were impacted by COVID19 protocols with many of them pausing their seasons, and more than 50 games were affected. Multiple women’s programs are also dealing with postponements and cancellations.
Locally, besides the Towson women, the Loyola Maryland men and the Morgan State women have had to back out of games due to positive tests within their respective programs.
Morgan State announced late Monday that its men’s program had joined the women in suspending their seasons until further notice
due to coronavirus limitations. The men’s games against James Madison on Tuesday and Penn State Wilkes Barre on Monday and the women’s game against Penn on Dec. 30 are postponed.
And the Coppin State men and Mount St. Mary’s women canceled games Tuesday morning after positive cases surfaced in the morning. The Eagles pulled out of games against George Mason on Thursday and Indiana State on Dec. 29, while the Mountaineers canceled a Tuesday afternoon home matinee against UMBC.
The Mount St. Mary’s men followed suit, canceling Wednesday night’s home game against UMBC “out of an abundance of caution due to COVID related issues.”
Others have stayed above the fray so far, but the question is, how long will that continue?
“It’s frustrating, but it’s not totally surprising,” UMBC athletic director Brian Barrio said Monday afternoon. “I think if you’re not prepared for some curveballs at this point, I don’t know when you’re ever going to be after two years of this. … Certainly, the concern for the worst outcomes is different than it was last year. So to me, that gives me some peace of mind, knowing that we’ve gotten there as a campus. Beyond that, you control what you can control. We’re clearly in the early wave right now. So we’re going to have to get through it.”
On Sunday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who himself tested positive for the virus on Monday, said the state was not mulling lockdowns despite a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations this month. Also as of Monday, the Maryland Department of Health reported 1,345 people hospitalized — more than twice the number in mid-November.
Unlike last season when the coronavirus was still largely unknown, vaccinations and booster shots have offered a somewhat elevated level of confidence that professional and college athletics could forge ahead. And because of those vaccinations, rules for teams relaxed.
Whereas one positive test meant the complete shutdown of a program for 10 to 14 days last winter, a similar result this season will not completely suspend a team as long as contact tracing does not prevent it from fielding enough players to play a game.
Players were tested daily last year, but this year players at some schools are tested only if they show symptoms. At Coppin State, vaccinated athletes are tested once per week, while unvaccinated athletes are tested twice per week, according to athletic director Derek Carter.
“It’s concerning,” he said of the increase of positive cases locally and nationwide. “Clearly, if the positive cases continue to rise, it’s going to present challenges for everyone. We just have to gauge how the positive cases will continue and just rely on our health professionals who really understand how the virus can grow and let them provide the guidance necessary so that we can make the decisions we need to make.”
The comfort level provided by vaccinations compelled some area coaches to give their players the choice to return home for Christmas.
“That was the last thing I said to the guys on the way out here — to be smart,” said Mount St. Mary’s men’s coach Dan Engelstad, who noted that the players will be given leave after Wednesday’s home game against UMBC. “You see what’s happening, and we’ve got to almost play every game like it could be our last for a while. You’ve got to play with that passion and energy because you’re seeing what’s happening nationwide. We can only control what we can.”
Last year, players on the Towson men’s team stayed on campus for the holidays, and director of operations Jordan Malkin asked their families to send video messages. The team gathered in a large meeting room inside SECU Arena to watch the videos, and almost every player wept.
“I just felt terrible,” coach Pat Skerry recalled. “So I said, ‘I’m not doing that again.’ ”
Despite vaccinations, many area teams continue to require players and coaches to wear masks during games when they are not playing or instructing their players and limiting the number of personnel that can access the locker room. Some go even further, such as the Loyola Maryland men, who have their players wearing masks during practices. The Towson women have two groups of guards and two groups of post players rotate for practices.
“It’s been hard,” said coach Tavaras Hardy, whose Greyhounds had replaced Cleveland State to play No. 2 Duke until positive results were self-reported by the program. “This [omicron] variant seems to be extremely contagious. So our guys are being smart, and everyone is trying to be smart, but you just never know whether it’s going to creep up on your program. We’re doing everything we can.”
Cancellations could be even more problematic as teams near their respective conference play. Leagues such as the Colonial Athletic Association (Towson) and the Northeast Conference (Mount St. Mary’s) implemented forfeiture rules for teams that can’t play against conference opponents because they don’t have enough players due to COVID-19 limitations. Skerry, the Towson coach, said the league should reconsider that policy.
“I know we all agreed that there would be forfeits if you didn’t play in league games,” Skerry said. “But as much as I want to win a league championship — and I do — I don’t know if I want to win it on a forfeit. I don’t think that’s right. So hopefully, we can figure that out.”
What is occurring at the professional level does offer the college coaches some solace. Late Monday night, the NHL announced it would postpone all games on Thursday and the league will resume playing Monday.
“Everyone’s trying to figure it out — the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, even college football as they try finish up the bowl season,” Hardy said. “Everyone’s trying to figure out what the right thing is to do right now because it is frustrating. But the most important thing is doing what’s right for the health and safety of everyone involved in these games..”
Will programs be able to complete the college basketball season unscathed? Carter, the Coppin State athletic director, said he “is hopeful.”
“This virus doesn’t operate by any clear set of rules. So I’m hopeful that our student-athletes can remain safe and our opponents can remain safe, and we can get through the season,” he added.
For now, many coaches such as Morgan State men’s coach Kevin Broadus are in a wait-and-see approach and wishing for the best.
“If it happens, it happens,” he said. “It’s out of our control. We all know how this disease is getting into people’s systems. If it happens to us, we’ve got to sit back and reboot and get this together.”
That task awaits the Towson women, who won six consecutive games before the current pause. Richardson knows that regaining that momentum won’t be easy.
“Hopefully, when we get everybody together, we can pick up where we left off,” she said. “But there’s no guarantee.”