BC Posts Another Round of Perfect COVID-19 Test Numbers
The 2020 college football season is hanging in the balance, but Boston College continues to do its part to keep hope alive.
First-year head coach Jeff Hafley told reporters on Monday morning that the program tested 164 student-athletes, coaches, and staff members for COVID-19 over the weekend, and—once again—no one produced a positive result.
On Aug. 1, BC reported that all 154 players, coaches, and staff tested on July 31 came back negative. At the time, BC Athletics had tested a total of 366 student-athletes, coaches, and staff, with only one positive result, according to Stadium college football insider Brett McMurphy.
The lone positive came back at the beginning of July, when the football program reported its first wave of testing.
Since student-athletes returned to campus on June 22, BC football has taken several steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus. BC Athletics instituted a COVID-19 operational plan, where student-athletes were first tested for coronavirus on around day eight of the state-recommended 14-day quarantine period. After quarantining, student-athletes and staff have been given daily temperature checks before entering the school’s athletic facilities
BC Athletics-approved personnel are required to wear masks in all common areas, and players have been wearing Schutt’s “Splash Shield” helmet attachment to protect each other, coaches, and staff from the propulsion of respiratory droplets.
Hafley has been in communication with coaches both at the college and NFL levels. He even had a FaceTime conversation with San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who was looking for advice about holding specific team meetings on-site, as mentioned in Albert Breer’s Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback piece from last week.
“Everyone wants to keep talking about, ‘Do we want to play? Do the kids want to play?’” Hafley said after practice on Monday morning. “Right now, all we can really do is rely on our medical people, and our players to do the best they can.”
Now in pads, BC completed its fifth day of training camp and the NCAA’s acclimatization period on Monday. Hafley’s crew is gearing up for the ACC’s first-ever 10-game conference slate, but the Eagles need to fill out the 11-game, 10-plus-one schedule with another non-conference opponent after the MAC canceled all fall sports on Saturday.