For the first time since March, Boston College will once again have athletic activities on its campus. Just three short months after BC sent nearly all of its students home due to COVD-19 concerns, the first wave of students has made its way back to Chestnut Hill. And who are the select few back on the Heights?
BC football players.
To initiate the first step of BC Athletics’ plan to return athletes to campus for summer training, BC football came back to Chestnut Hill on Monday, according to a release from Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Communications Jason Baum.
In order to ensure safety, the Eagles follow a “COVID-19 operational plan that will adhere to all federal, state, medical and university guidelines to safely return and begin voluntary workouts,” according to Baum.
This plan includes limiting players and personnel in all BC facilities, though the release did not specify by how much capacities will be limited. Both staff members and student-athletes will be required to wear face masks in all common spaces, as well as partake in daily temperature checks.
COVID-19 testing will not take place until the athletes have been quarantined for approximately eight days, Baum said. He also stated that should a player or staff member test positive, the athletics department has a protocol in place, though he did not specify what that protocol will include.
Upon arriving on campus, all BC student-athletes will quarantine for 14 days—the Massachusetts state guideline for anyone traveling into the state—regardless of the player’s home state. This time may also vary depending on the reopening of the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston.
A majority of other ACC schools have also begun their return to campus with their football teams after the NCAA determined that schools could begin voluntary workouts starting June 1. Clemson, Pitt, and Syracuse all returned on June 8, while Louisville began its three-phase return with its first 30 student-athletes on that same day. North Carolina followed a similar pattern to Louisville, though its plan includes four phases, each spread out by one week.
Upon Clemson teams returning to campus, the school administered 315 tests and declared 28 positive, 23 of which, according to The Athletic, came from the football team.
BC is one of the last ACC programs to admit its football team back onto campus, with only Duke and Virginia left to return.
Baum did not stipulate in the release which sports will be the next to follow suit, so for the time being, BC football will be the only team on the Heights.
This story is being updated.
Featured Image by Celine Lim / Heights Senior Staff
