Return of college athletes yields glimpse

As athletes return to campus amid the pandemic, the realtime challenges schools are facing with positive tests may yield a glimpse into what a return to classes might entail in the fall.

Late last week, Clemson announced 28 athletes and athletic staffers had tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, Kansas State said it was shutting down its voluntary workouts for athletes at team facilities after a spike of 14 positive cases.

And on Monday, Notre Dame reported one positive among 91 tested football players, Wisconsin had two positives among 117 athletes tested and Iowa’s latest round of testing found nine positives among 40 overall.

As colleges and universities ponder how to reopen campuses to droves of students during a pandemic, sports programs around the country are providing a daily glimpse at the challenges that lie ahead — and maybe some solutions.

“When you’re thinking about athletes, people are very worried about sports and the close contact they have. And there’s a little bit less concern when it comes to the general student body because of their interactions being different,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and a member of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel. “But I do think it speaks to the fact that the colleges are going to have to come up with a plan for dealing with these cases.”

With an eye toward preparing for competition in a couple months — the major college football season kicks off in most places around the Labor Day weekend — athletic departments began bringing groups of athletes back to campus June 1.

The goal is to create something of a bubble around players, using frequent testing to catch positive cases and contact tracing and quarantining to mitigate spread.

Positive tests were anticipated, and they should be when the rest of the students come back. For athletes, the hope is by mid-July football teams will be able to move into larger group activities, then full-blown practices in early August.

To do so, athletic administrators and coaching staffs are stressing to players that there is only so much that can be put in place to protect them from contracting coronavirus.

Kansas State University athletic director Gene Taylor told The Athletic a spike in cases might have had two causes: A small number of athletes not completing their quarantine after they arrived on campus and been tested, and then that group joining some other athletes in attending an off-campus party.

“It wasn’t that they did anything on purpose. They just weren’t taking it serious,” Taylor told The Athletic.