Michigan football benched by positive COVID-19 cases; AD waiting for 'over 100 tests'
No one will be running out of the tunnel at the Big House on Saturday.
Michigan football announced its game against Maryland has been canceled and is pausing all team activities until at least Monday.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said Wednesday says the decision was because of an increase in COVID-19 "positive tests and associated contract tracing due to our most recent antigen and PCR testing results."
But exactly how much of an increase remains unclear.
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The Big Ten conference's protocol states teams "must stop regular practice and competition for a minimum of seven days and reassess metrics until improved" if the test positivity rate (number of positive tests divided by total number of tests administered) exceeds 5%, and the population positivity rate (number of positive individuals divided by total population at risk) exceeds 7.5%.
When asked Wednesday about Michigan's positivity and population rates, associate athletic director Kurt Svoboda said, "Unfortunately, I am not provided with a sport-by-sport update and our overall dashboard has yet to be updated. I am working to get that information and will share if possible. As a reminder, this decision is a result of both positive COVID tests and the associated contact tracing (of) the results."
In a video provided to reporters, Dr. Sami Rifat, Michigan's medical director, was asked what needs to happen in order for Michigan to resume team activities.
“I like to see a good two to three days of us trending in the right direction before we feel comfortable getting people back together," he said. "I will say, we are, I feel, incredibly responsive. We have a great deal of support across the university. So we get this information, it seems like real time. So I feel like we’re able to act quickly and hopefully mitigate spread. But also the other way around. When it’s safe to go back, we hope to act quickly in that as well.”
And the eventual goal, Manuel said, is for the Wolverines to finish their season.
“Right now, we are focused right now on the health and safety of our team," Manuel said Wednesday in an interview with Michigan's Ed Kengerski. "We have over 100 tests that are coming back today to be analyzed by our medical staff. We hope to play as we hope to play every game this year.
“Every team in our league that has stopped thus far had to go playing every game this year. And it is disheartening that we’re not gonna be able to play Maryland. And our hope is that we can play Ohio State and finish the season in the final week.”
The Wolverines have been virtual since Monday, and players and assistant coaches were not made available to the media Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, as is custom.
According to Manuel, coach Jim Harbaugh, who has yet to publicly comment following the Maryland cancelation, understands and supports the decision.
“I talked to Jim earlier and he was really disappointed by the decision — understands the decision, supports the decision," Manuel said. "But we want to play. Those student-athletes want to play. This was an opportunity that we have to pause, and we all understand it. But they are disappointed. Because they work so hard to get this far in the season and nobody wanted this — to stop this way.
"In talking to my colleagues around the conference and around the nation who have had to do this, it’s a similar thing. You really can’t blame the student-athletes or the staff or those affected. This is just something that everybody is dealing with in our country and it just so happens to be this week that we have to deal with it.”
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football benched by COVID-19 cases; exact number unknown
