Lea en español
Virginia Athletics reported 31 positive COVID-19 results Monday over the 3,923 tests administered between Dec. 14 and Jan 31. That marks a 0.8 percent positivity rate for the athletic department. Since testing began on July 5, there have been 138 positive test results that have come from the 18,330 tests administered, tallying just shy of a 0.8 percent positivity rate.
“All positive tests were reported to the Blue Ridge Health District of the Virginia Department of Health,” the press release stated. “Those individuals will self-isolate for at least 10 days, or until symptoms are resolving plus 24-hours fever free.”
Virginia follows the ACC testing protocols that requires all student athletes participating in “high-risk” sports — men’s basketball and wrestling — to be tested three times per week. Lower-risk sports — track and field, swimming, diving, golf and tennis — are to be tested one time per week.
This week marks the beginning of the spring semester for the Cavaliers, although many student-athletes have been on Grounds over winter break to practice and compete. Most Virginia sports have continued competition as planned.
Men’s basketball is still in competition after having to temporarily suspend its program early in the season due to COVID-19 issues. Most recently, the Cavaliers have been impacted by COVID-19 concerns in other ACC programs, having their Saturday opponent switched from Louisville to Pittsburgh due to positive COVID-19 cases in the Cardinals’ program.
On the other hand, women’s basketball announced in January that it would suspend the rest of its season after having to cancel one game and postpone six games because of player injuries and COVID-19 related issues, joining ACC foe Duke, who canceled their season Dec. 25.
Swimming and diving and wrestling have been competing as scheduled without any COVID-19-related interruptions or cancellations as of late. Men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse are also set to start their spring season this weekend and next weekend, respectively. The latter’s first game against Navy was postponed due to COVID-19 cases in the Midshipmen’s program, and they are currently looking for a new opponent to kick off the 2021 season.
With the start of the spring semester, the University plans to publish a student-athlete COVID-19 update every Monday. In addition, all of the testing administered to student-athletes is reflected in the University’s COVID-19 tracker, which is updated each day Monday through Friday by 4 p.m.