It was announced this past Friday that the Mid-American Conference was set to bring back football this fall with a six-game conference only schedule set to start on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
That will see the University at Buffalo Bulls back in action at some point in early November, with the season set to conclude in December. The MAC Football Championship game is expected to be the last game of the year in the conference, scheduled for either Dec. 18 or 19.
However, there is already some concerning news to come from the UB Division of Athletics as 25 student-athletes have tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a statement released by the department, the cases are contained to student-athletes on the women’s volleyball, women’s soccer and football teams. UB Athletics Director Mark Alnutt said in the statement that the student-athletes who tested positive are in isolation, being cared for and doing well.
“We have had very low incidence of COVID-19 since we began testing our student-athletes in June,” Alnutt said. “Per our health and safety protocols, we took immediate steps to curb the spread of the virus among our student-athletes and athletics staff.”
“Our athletic training staff, coaches and student-athletes have done an excellent job of preventing and containing the spread of the virus over the past four months. With the rigorous health protocols we have in place, and with the dedicated commitment of our student-athletes and athletics staff, we will continue to protect our student-athletes, the UB campus community and the community at large.”
Here is more from the statement:
"Discovery of the new cases resulted from testing 322 student-athletes last week after one student-athlete reported symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The results of two tests of the entire football and women’s volleyball teams, as well as UB Athletics’ regular surveillance testing over the past week, indicated that 25 student-athletes – 19 football players, five women’s volleyball players and one women’s soccer player – were positive.
"Per UB Athletics protocol, all team activities in the three sports were immediately paused, with the hope they will resume Oct. 5, after the health status of each team is further evaluated.
"On Oct. 5, UB Athletics will begin implementing new health protocols developed by the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Medical Advisory Group for football programs. The protocols require point-of-care antigen testing at least four times a week of all football student-athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and other individuals that are on the field for practices and games.
"Also beginning Oct. 5, according to MAC football protocols, teams that have a positivity rate of 2-5% must proceed with caution and enhanced COVID-19 prevention efforts. These efforts include altering practice/meeting schedules, considering the viability of continuing scheduled competition, and more frequent testing. Teams with a positivity rate greater than 5% must stop practice and competition for a minimum of seven days."