UND Athletics Pauses Workouts After 29 Positive COVID-19 Tests
29 came back positive after 200 tests
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — (UND Athletics) Statement from UND Athletic Director Bill Chaves:
“Based on results from our weekly test that occurred on Thursday, we have been working through 29 (of over 200 student-athletes tested) positive cases from that test. Given this situation, we have paused workouts this week so that we can hit a reset on a number of items moving forward.
Per our existing protocols and University protocols for isolating and quarantining — which have been in development for the past several months– those who have tested positive were immediately isolated. In addition, we continue to work with UND Health and the State of North Dakota’s Department of Public Health on quarantining any close contacts.
Since we have begun weekly testing of all of our student-athletes that wanted to workout in our facilities six weeks ago, we have now had two instances where positive cases have spiked and have been the majority of our total cases. The first being after the July 4th weekend and the second coming with Thursday’s results which we learned of over the weekend and coincided with Fall seasons being postponed.“
UND Athletics has been working closely with the pandemic group on campus for months and is following developed protocols.
On Aug. 7, the Missouri Valley Football Conference moved to postpone the 2020 season to the Spring. The Summit League made the same decision last Monday for the sports of cross country, volleyball and soccer.
