Big Ten Trouble: 42 Wisconsin Players, Staff Have Had COVID Since June — Including 29 This Month
The news comes one day after the conference announced it will resume playing football next month.
ABC News:
As Big Ten Decides To Return, 42 Wisconsin Players And Staff Have Tested Positive For COVID, Officials Say
A day after the Big Ten decided to resume the football season, local officials announced University of Wisconsin, Madison has had over 40 football players and staff test positive for COVID-19 so far. On Wednesday, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors announced that the conference's football season will resume next month, after previously voting to postpone it until the spring. That same day, officials in UW-Madison's county released a statement advising students and people living in Dane County, where the university sits, not to gather to watch Badger football games. (Deliso, 9/17)
AP:
42 Badger Players, Staff Test Positive For Coronavirus
Forty-two players and staff with the Wisconsin football team have tested positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten makes plans to get the season started. Public Health Madison & Dane County says the 42 people tested positive since June when athletes and staff returned to campus. Twenty-nine of the positive tests were from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15. (9/17)
The New York Times:
With Football Returning, Big Ten Cities Brace For More Covid Outbreaks
To the Big Ten Conference’s leaders and medical advisers, the announcement Wednesday that the league would play football this autumn was a scientific masterstroke and an athletic triumph. In some Big Ten cities, however, public health experts worried it could create an off-the-field epidemiological crisis. (Minsberg and Blinder, 9/17)
In other sports news —
The Washington Post:
Fan At Chiefs-Texans NFL Season Opener Tests Positive For Coronavirus, 10 Quarantined
A fan who attended the NFL’s season-opening game last week at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., tested positive for the novel coronavirus the following day, leading the Kansas City Health Department to direct 10 people to quarantine for potential exposure to the virus. The positive test and quarantines were announced Thursday by the city’s health department. The account was confirmed by the Kansas City Chiefs, who hosted the Houston Texans in the game Sept. 10. (Maske, 9/17)
The Hill:
University Of Georgia Defends Decision To Allow Football But Not Voting On Campus
The University of Georgia is defending a decision to go ahead with football but not on-campus voting. “Those comparing this matter to a football game should be able to recognize that football games will be played outdoors but we will still require social distancing by substantially reducing capacity in the stadium,” the university said in a statement on Wednesday. (Budryk, 9/17)
BBC News:
Football Team Loses 37-0 In Socially Distanced Match
A German football team lost 37-0 to their local rivals after fielding only seven players who socially distanced throughout the match. Ripdorf fielded the minimum number of players on Sunday because their opponents SV Holdenstedt II came into contact in a previous game with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. Their team tested negative but Ripdorf said the conditions were not safe. If Ripdorf had not played, they would have faced a €200 (£182) fine. They had asked for the match - in the 11th tier of German football - to be postponed, but the local association refused. (9/17)
