Kansas football confirms first case of COVID-19 since returning to campus
A Kansas football player has tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time since the beginning of voluntary workouts.
On Saturday, one Kansas football player tested positive for COVID-19, while another tested positive for the antibodies. Having a Kansas player test positive for COVID-19 was a question of “when,” not “if,” and now that it’s happened, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next for the program as a whole.
Obviously, the athlete who tested positive is being cared for by professionals and quarantined, but the Jayhawks football team could be on their way to a situation similar to that of which Kansas State is dealing with just down the road.
As of June 19, the Wildcats had 14 athletes test positive for COVID-19 and the administrators there made the call to pause football workouts for two weeks, which was definitely the right move.
Another prominent football team that’s been hit hard by the virus is Clemson, who’s up to 21 confirmed cases on their football team in addition to two staff members.
It’s really not overstating it to say that there’s a significant chance we won’t play football next season given how many schools are seeing their athletes and staff members contract the virus. Add in the fans, the traveling, plus all the physical contact made and it’s easy to envision a season with no fans or worse.
The best thing Kansas football and other schools with positive cases can do now is handle the cases with the athlete’s best interest in mind, which is what it sounds like AD Jeff Long and the athletics department will be doing:
"“While we can be almost certain there will be additional positive tests, we are committed to properly handling each individual with the highest medical care and doing our part to mitigate the spread.”"
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The good thing for Kansas football is that they aren’t alone in this. Since every coach, team, and athletics department is battling this same issue all over the country, maybe we’ll start to see what works and what doesn’t and get an idea of how we can safely return to football in 2020.