Oregon Cancels Football Practice After 5 Positive COVID-19 Tests
October 25, 2020
The Oregon football team canceled Saturday activities after five individuals within the program tested positive for COVID-19, per James Crepea of The Oregonian.
Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal provided comments on the results:
"They're all asymptomatic, as normal as can be and they're all in isolation and working with the medical staff and local health to make sure that all protocol is followed. It has been to the 'T' since the beginning; it's the first time we've had positive antigen tests in our program. Also working with local health and our medical team with the contact tracing stuff, which is a little bit more thorough and I know they take a deeper dive into that."
Cristobal also told reporters that the entire Ducks team will be tested Sunday per the university's medical policy. The five individuals who tested positive will then undergo a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test before further decisions are made following those results.
Per Crepea, it is unclear whether the five individuals are players, staff members or a mix of both.
The Ducks were scheduled to hold their 14th fall camp practice and second fall scrimmage game.
Oregon is scheduled to play a six-game Pac-12 slate beginning Nov. 7 at home versus Stanford. The Pac-12 originally decided to postpone fall sports until the 2021 calendar year because of the COVID-19 pandemic but changed course and opted to go with a shortened, conference-only schedule in the late fall.
Other athletic conferences have forged ahead despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused numerous cancellations and postponements. Per the World Health Organization, a total of 72,342 new cases were confirmed in the United States on Saturday.
The Ducks are looking to continue the momentum built off last year's successful season that included a Pac-12 title, a Rose Bowl win and a No. 5 ranking in the final Associated Press poll to cap a 12-2 campaign.
Oregon is the top-ranked Pac-12 representative in this year's AP poll at No. 13.