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Virginia Athletics reports one positive COVID-19 test in the last seven days

Numbers remain low as the Cavaliers continue to play regular season and tournament games

<p>Despite the looming presence of COVID-19, the men's tennis team pulled off an electric win against North Carolina and won the program's 13th ACC Championship this past weekend.</p>

Despite the looming presence of COVID-19, the men's tennis team pulled off an electric win against North Carolina and won the program's 13th ACC Championship this past weekend.

Virginia Athletics reported one positive COVID-19 test amongst a batch of 1,068 tests administered to student-athletes and staff April 19 through April 25. This cuts the positivity rate to 0.09 percent after reporting a 0.2 percent positivity rate last week. Additionally, since the department began testing in July, the overall positivity rate is 0.7 percent — equivalent to a total of 221 positive tests out of 33,734 tests administered.

As usual, “all positive tests were reported to the Blue Ridge Health District,” the press release stated. The individual who tested positive will endure 10 days of self-isolation, or until his or her symptoms resolve and they experience 24 fever-free hours — whichever comes first. The individual will also “be medically evaluated before they will be cleared to resume daily sports participation” and “known close contacts ... will also be asked to self-quarantine.”

These testing protocols are reflective of ACC COVID-19 testing protocols, which require “high-risk” sports to be tested three times per week and “low-risk” sports to be tested once per week.

Many of Virginia’s sports — both “high-risk” and “low-risk” — are currently playing their regular seasons, competing in conference tournaments or preparing for appearances in their respective NCAA tournaments. Notably, the Virginia men’s tennis team recently won the ACC tournament and the women’s soccer team is getting ready to play the first round of the NCAA tournament.

As vaccine rollout continues throughout the state of Virginia, more and more student-athletes and athletics department staffers will become vaccinated every day. With this effort well underway, it is everybody’s hope that cases within the athletics department, University community and greater Charlottesville area continue to shrink.

Athletics-related travel will continue to present some risk to members of the athletics department, however, it has not significantly hindered any team in recent weeks. As peak tournament season approaches, teams must continue vigilant efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Currently, there are 42 active cases of COVID-19 within the University community, a 34 percent decrease from last week’s active cases, as reported by the University’s COVID tracker. Included in this total number of active cases is the one positive test reported by Virginia Athletics. Additionally, quarantine rooms are at two percent capacity, while isolation rooms are at one percent capacity.

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