Ohio State suspends voluntary workouts after COVID-19 test results
Add Ohio State to the list of schools who have stopped voluntary workouts for athletes because of the coronavirus.
The school announced Wednesday that workouts would be on hold after the results of its latest round of coronavirus tests. Ohio State is not announcing how many people tested positive for COVID-19 and said that seven teams are affected by the workout suspension: both men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
“If a student-athlete tests positive for COVID-19, he/she will self-isolate for at least 14 days and receive daily check-ups from the Department of Athletics medical staff,” a statement from the school said. “Student-athletes living alone will isolate in their residence. If they have roommates, they will self-isolate in a designated room on campus.”
Earlier Wednesday, North Carolina announced that it suspended workouts because 37 athletes had tested positive among 429 coronavirus tests. The school did not break down the number of positive cases by team.
North Carolina and Ohio State join Houston, Kansas and Kansas State among schools who have suspended workouts because of positive coronavirus tests. The school with the most publicly known football players to test positive for coronavirus is Clemson, which said that 37 football players had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Players across the country are in the midst of voluntary workouts at their schools in preparation for the 2020 fall sports seasons — whenever they begin. The NCAA has approved a six-week prepare to play procedure for football that allows teams to start officially working together on July 13. The recommendation for that protocol, however, was approved nearly a month ago when coronavirus cases hadn’t spiked to the levels we’ve seen in recent days.
The college football season is officially set to begin the weekend of Sept. 5 though Wednesday saw the first major postponement. The Ivy League said it wouldn’t hold any fall sports during 2020 and winter sports wouldn’t start until Jan. 1, 2021. The conference could still play football and other fall sports in the spring of 2021, though it said it will make that decision at “a later date.”
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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