Syracuse, N.Y. – Syracuse will test its winter sports athletes for the coronavirus three times per week, as dictated by the ACC.
The school will use PCR tests, which have been proven to be the most effective way to test for Covid-19. Brad Pike, SU’s Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, said Tuesday the reliability of the PCR tests convinced the school and the conference to stick to those type of tests instead of daily antigen tests.
SU has antigen tests and can perform a daily test if a need arises, Pike said. But the school has “had a pretty good track record” with PCR tests during the fall sports season.
Pike, who also serves as SU’s representative on the ACC’s Medical Advisory Board, said the first Covid tests are conducted at the beginning of the week. The second tests happen 72 hours before the game; the third and final test of the week happens 48 hours after the game “to make sure we can contact trace if there’s a positive to inform the other team,” he said.
Pike said test turnaround times at Syracuse are generally within a 24-hour window. He also said anyone in the program who tests positive for Covid will not need to be tested again for 150 days (up from 90 days).
Scheduling during coronavirus: Ask Peter Corasaniti how stressful these past couple months have been. SU’s director of basketball operations has been charged with putting together the Orange basketball schedule (with final say from Jim Boeheim). It’s been a season like no other with cancelations, postponements and pauses.
The ACC is permitting its schools to play non-conference games and SU has built medical guidelines into its contracts with non-conference opponents, said SU senior deputy athletics director Herman Frazier. SU will play most of its non-conference games in the Carrier Dome, the exception being the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Rutgers.
In the past, opposing teams were thrilled to secure an invite to play in the Dome and collect the guaranteed money those games provided.
“No one’s providing large guarantees to these non-conference schools and everybody wants competition. We aren’t the only ones who want to play,” Frazier said. “If you are a student-athlete and you are a competitor, you want to play no matter what. So, once we decided who we were going to extend an invitation to play, we told them what the rules were … and obviously the ones that we signed are people who agreed to those arrangements.”
More on the contact tracing wearables: Frazier said SU was the first program in the ACC to use wearable devices that guide contact tracing. Now, every ACC program will use them.
A company called Kinexon makes the devices, which look like wristwatches. We’ve written a lot about them. (I’m fascinated.) SU coach Jim Boeheim described them in a media day meeting with reporters. Onondaga County Executive visited the Melo Center recently to inspect the gadgets and the data they provide. McMahon said the county will use data collected from those devices to contact trace the SU men’s and women’s basketball programs should a positive Covid test arise. That means not every person in the program would be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Pike said players wear them during practices and will wear them during games. Officials will be supplied with them. And Pike said SU will offer them to opposing teams once a new shipment arrives.
From those devices, Pike can collect data about the duration and distances between people to determine who requires Covid quarantines should someone test positive.
“We’ve actually sent our guys home with these on, we want to see what their home life is like and their interactions in their apartments. We’ve done that 3-4 times before quarantine to see what they’re doing. I think that’s giving us some really good data,” Pike said. “What it’s done for me is let me know how far six feet away is. Because ours are set for six feet. And if I get closer than six feet, this thing will start chiming. We have all our players on silent but we have all the staff on the beep and it’s very annoying. What you think is six feet and what six feet actually is are two different things. It’s been very eye-opening for me.”
Who decides to play or not play a game?: The drama surrounding the Clemson-Florida State football game that never was dragged into its fourth day Tuesday. Quick background: Florida State determined it would not play last Saturday because a Clemson player who showed Covid symptoms earlier in the week was among the Clemson traveling party. That set off a wild few days of suspicions and doubled-down accusations, mostly by Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who kept insisting Florida State was ducking his Tigers.
With college basketball games happening at a more frequent pace than college football games, similar scenarios seem likely this winter. Who decides whether a game should be played?
“Ultimately, the chief medical officers are on the game-day call,” Wildhack said. “And they’re the ones that have the final sign-off and authority to play a game or not. And, obviously, we’re relevant. And if necessary, in coordination with university health officials and local health officials if need be.”
Donna Ditota is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? Reach her at dditota@syracuse.com.
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