Just a few days after Boston College swimming and diving paused workouts for both its men’s and women’s teams due to a COVID-19 outbreak among team members, BC has temporarily suspended all practices for many of its winter and spring sports.
Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications Jason Baum confirmed the practice suspension in a statement to The Heights.
“BC Athletics has temporarily paused training for those winter and spring sports in which competition is not scheduled for the remainder of the calendar year,” Baum said. “This pause enables the Department to focus all efforts and resources on those sports which are competing—or will compete—in the weeks and months ahead in 2020.”
Some of the sports affected by the pause include lacrosse, rowing, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s track, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s fencing, and men’s and women’s golf.
Fall sports with games scheduled within the calendar year—including field hockey, volleyball, and women’s soccer—will still be allowed to practice, according to Baum.
BC saw a spike in its cases last week, including the 13 among swim and dive athletes. Last week, 67 undergraduates tested positive out of 2,647 tested, making for a 2.5 percent positivity rate, according to BC’s coronavirus dashboard.
“We can confirm that members of our swimming and diving team have tested positive for COVID-19,” Baum wrote in an email to The Heights on Friday. “We have temporarily paused all team activities with the swimming and diving program. The student-athletes who tested positive are in isolation in accordance with university COVID-19 protocols.”
This halt in winter and spring athletic activities comes less than a week before BC football is set to kick off its season on the road against Duke. As of Sept. 5, the football team had administered 1,766 total tests with only one positive, according to head coach Jeff Hafley. The lone positive case came from an athlete in June, who has since recovered.
Feature Image by Maggie DiPatri / Heights Editor
