Of 93 BC football players tested for COVID-19, only one had positive result
Ninety-three Boston College football players were tested for COVID-19, and only one result came back positive, Stadium college football insider Brett McMurphy reported on Thursday.
The name of the student-athlete who tested positive was not disclosed.
BC football student-athletes returned to campus on June 22, after BC Athletics developed a COVID-19 operational plan based on state, federal, university, and medical guidelines, per department release. Part of that procedure required student-athletes to be tested for the coronavirus on or around day eight of the Massachusetts-recommended 14-day quarantine period.
BC Athletics has stated that daily temperature checks are being performed before all student-athletes and staff enter the school’s athletic facilities. That will remain the case until Massachusetts moves into “Phase 4” of its reopening. Additionally, limited personnel is allowed in BC’s athletic facilities, and those permitted must wear masks in all common areas.
Over the course of the past month, FBS programs across the country attempting to safely resume voluntary workouts have reported COVID-19 case numbers.
Following a one-week quarantine period starting the first weekend of June, there were zero positive COVID-19 test results at Kansas State. But by June 19, the team had 14 cases, and workouts were shut down until at least mid-July. Fellow Big 12 school Texas reported 13 cases the previous day, less than a week after the football team began its voluntary workouts.
Perhaps most notably, at ACC powerhouse Clemson, 37 football players have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 14 more having been added to the total on June 26, according to Yahoo! Sports. And a June outbreak at LSU had at least 30 players quarantined, per Sports Illustrated.
Some have experienced more promising results. Indiana, in particular, tested 187 athletes, coaches, and staff members, and, on June 23, reported zero positive cases. Yet, as of last week, The New York Times reported that 23 of the 130 FBS schools have experienced confirmed positive tests. That stat, of course, doesn’t include some of the public universities that have held back from releasing COVID-19 testing results.
It’s still very early, and programs throughout the nation are approaching the return to football in different ways—a cause for concern for many seeking a universal NCAA-sanctioned protocol. Some schools are testing all players on a weekly basis, while others aren’t testing asymptomatic athletes, and a few, like East Carolina SMU, are making players sign waivers, relieving said universities from liability, as detailed by The Washington Post.
BC’s first wave of tests is encouraging, but it’s simply one step in a long and complicated return.