Michigan Football Team Cancels Spring Trip Over Coronavirus Fears

Michigan's football team will not travel abroad on their spring trip due to coronavirus fears.

Michigan's football team will not travel abroad for its annual spring trip over concerns about the coronavirus.

Although the team had not yet finalized its travel plans, the Wolverines will instead focus on staying local.

"The football team will not be taking an international trip this spring due to health concerns around the world, most notably coronavirus," team spokesperson Dave Ablauf confirmed to MLive.com in a text message. "[We're] looking at doing some community service in the Ann Arbor area."

Ablauf said the team had not settled on a destination before deciding to cancel their trip.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh has taken his players on privately funded spring trips over the past three years to Italy (2017), France (2018) and South Africa (2019).

This year, Harbaugh asked administrators to pick a location for the team's trip after he made the plans for the past three years.

"I told them to surprise me," Harbaugh said, according to MLive.com. "The first trips ... it was like a one-man band. I was doing it all. And it was all time consuming."

Coronavirus has affected more than 80,000 people across the world. More than 2,700 deaths have been attributed to the virus, which has reached 38 countries.

On Tuesday, CDC officials said that Americans should prepare for the spread of coronavirus in communities across the United States, where there are more than 50 confirmed cases, according to CBS News. 

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.