MM 9.4: Maryland athletics suspends training after spike in coronavirus cases

Maryland athletics announced Thursday it has officially paused all workouts after seeing a spike in positive COVID-19 test results as athletes began to return to campus.

From Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, the University Health Center conducted 501 on-campus screenings of student athletes that returned 46 positive results across 10 different teams.

“As we experience an unprecedented year in college athletics and across the entire country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to keep the health, safety and welfare of our student-athletes and staff first and foremost,” Athletic Director Damon Evans said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are temporarily pausing all workouts for our programs. We continue to educate our student-athletes and staff about best practices and protocols to be safe this time. We look forward to when our student-athletes can safely return to workouts and then re-start their seasons.”

All student athletes will be tested again on Sept. 8 after going through educational material, contact tracing and isolation, according to the press release.

Before this announcement, Maryland had just 12 positive results out of 964 tests. To date, the school has conducted 2,191 COVID-19 screenings of student athletes with 63 positive results.

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