SI Report: Power 5 Conferences to Release COVID-19 Testing Standards

Having universal protocols for testing is an essential step for the Pac-12 having a level playing field with other major conferences if college football games are played in 2020

Cal released a statement on Thursday saying five more of its athletes involved in voluntary workouts have tested positiove for COVID-19, and Sports Illustrated reported Thursday on a pending document that provides testing protocol standards for all Power 5 conferences, a key development toward playing a 2020 season.

The document, to be released soon, states that all Power 5 college football players who test positive for COVID-19 this fall will be required to miss at least 10 days of competition, according to the SI report. The number of days on the sidelines will be extended to two weeks for those who are found to have had contact with a person who tested positive.

Conferences such as the Pac-12 and schools such as Cal had been hoping some agreement could be reached among the five major football conferences about testing protocols so some colleges and conferences would not be operating under one standard while other colleges and conferences were operating under another. An uneven playing field would be likely if no standard national protocols were established.

Of course, we don’t know whether a college football season will be played in 2020, but establishing nationwide protocols was an essential prerequisite.

***Click here for a statement released by the NCAA on Thursday regarding return-to-sport guidelines. 

Here is an excerpt from the Sports Illustrated story:

Sports Illustrated obtained a copy of a draft of the document from July 8. The document is not finalized, but is expected to be released soon by the Power 5 and the NCAA, which are working in concert to create universal, minimum testing standards.

College teams will be required to test football players within 72 hours of games using the standard PCR test. Game officials in football and basketball should also be tested weekly, because of their close contact with athletes, the document says. The document, however, does not require tests for coaches, though staff members must wear a mask on the sideline if they are not tested in the same way athletes are. As for other high-risk sports, athletes should be tested within 72 hours of the first game of a week’s set of games.

Those who test positive must isolate for at least 10 days from their onset of symptoms/positive test and until they’ve gone at least three days without symptoms, which the document defines as “resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement of respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath).” Those found to have had “high risk” contact with people who have tested positive will quarantine for 14 days. This 14-day quarantine is mandatory. Even if those quarantined test negative for the virus, they must still complete the 14 days without competition—a significant restriction that could knock out large swaths of a football team.

Further information about the definition of “high risk” and what happens if athletes or staff members show symptoms between tests and competition are outlined in the report.

One other critical excerpt is added here:

The document details several conditions that would result in a school discontinuing competition and/or complete seasons: 1) lack of ability to isolate new positive cases or quarantine high-contact risk cases on campus; 2) inability to perform weekly testing; 3) campus-wide or local community test rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials; 4) inability to perform adequate contact tracing; 5) local public health officials state that there is an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge in COVID-related hospitalizations.

The two categories that might be of concern to Cal are No. 3 and No. 5, because of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in California and the strict restrictions being applied in the state of California, Alameda County and the City of Berkeley.

This document would give the five major conferences – ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 an Pac-12 – universal rules for testing and resulting quarantines. Group of 5 conferences and the NCAA are expected to release their own guidelines.

Click here for the entire SI story.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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