Notre Dame postpones football game after multiple student-athletes test positive for Covid-19
The University of Notre Dame was forced to postpone its football game against Wake Forest on Saturday after multiple student-athletes tested positive for Covid-19.
Seven out of 94 football players on the Fighting Irish tested positive, Notre Dame said in a news release Tuesday. Those individuals are in isolation and contact tracing is underway.
In a statement, Notre Dame Athletics announced that the football program has decided to pause all football-related activities until further testing can be completed. Combined with testing results from last week, a total of 13 football players are now in isolation with 10 in quarantine.
“With student-athlete health and safety our primary focus, we will continue to follow our prevention protocols and ongoing testing procedures,” said football Coach Brian Kelly.
“We managed an increase in positivity rates in August, and the players handled it wonderfully. We knew COVID would present challenges throughout the season, and we’ll always put student-athlete health and safety at the forefront of our decision making. We look forward to resuming team activities and getting back on the playing field.”
Notre Dame, which is 2-0 so far this season, is currently the seventh ranked football team in the nation. The school has long kept its football program independent, but accepted temporary admittance to the ACC when major conferences began canceling non-conference games.
As of Tuesday, Notre Dame has 408 confirmed cases among the campus community in South Bend, Indiana, according to its Covid-19 dashboard. The university has 8,731 undergraduates and 3,950 graduate students for a total enrollment of 12,681.
Notre Dame isn’t the first to delay a game due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the Baylor Bears and Houston Cougars postponed their game, as did Florida Atlantic University and Georgia Southern University.
