As the Michigan football team prepares to play the University’s first varsity sporting event in over seven months against Minnesota on Saturday, multiple other University teams have had practices affected by COVID-19 outbreaks, sources tell The Daily.
Both the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams have “a few” athletes isolating due to close contact with athletes who have tested positive, but are continuing partial team practices.
“This just tells us that we have to be extra, extra careful and that we have to really do this correctly,” one athlete said in a text message to The Daily.
Men’s gymnastics coach Kurt Golder confirmed the positive cases and continuation of practice in a separate text message to The Daily.
The baseball team is also continuing practices despite two positive cases. Practices are currently occurring in a limited capacity, according to a source close to the program, with approximately two-thirds of the team isolating due to contact-tracing efforts that have flagged those who came in close contact with positive players. Sources were granted anonymity for this story as they were not authorized to speak publicly.
“We are strictly following all health and safety protocols,” baseball coach Erik Bakich said in a text message to The Daily. “We are not permitted to discuss specific student information.”
The news comes after Washtenaw County issued a stay-at-home order for Michigan undergraduate students. Athletic events are not affected by the order, per the health department press release.
According to an email from a University spokesman on Oct. 16, 11 student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16 out of 1,559 tests. It is unclear whether the men’s gymnastics, women’s gymnastics and baseball cases occurred during that window.
The University spokesman did not confirm or deny The Daily’s reporting in a text message Tuesday evening, citing the Oct. 16 testing numbers.
Ethan Sears contributed reporting to this story.