Coach Mike Locksley referred to Maryland football’s coronavirus outbreak as a “microcosm” of what’s going on around the country, one day after the program announced Saturday’s game was canceled due to an elevated number of coronavirus cases.
The Terrapins were scheduled to face Ohio State at Maryland Stadium this weekend, but that contest was canceled and won’t be rescheduled after eight players tested positive in a seven-day span.
The team has moved into a hotel and plans to remain there through Sunday to create a bubble of sorts, isolating healthy players while containing any potential spread of the virus. The players and staff members are tested daily — about 170 people — and Locksley said there haven’t been any additional positive tests.
Locksley deferred most questions regarding the coronavirus outbreak to medical personnel who weren’t available at the virtual Thursday night press conference. He described the situation as “day-to-day,” and didn’t know when his team might get back on the field, be that for practices or games.
“Those questions are out of my paygrade there,” Locksley said. “The medical people are leading the charge with this here. … They’ll lead the charge on telling us when, so right now, as I’ve told you, and as I’ve always said, we’re day-to-day. When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll get whatever information is provided to me by the medical people in regards to where we are that day, and then I’ll make decisions for the football program based off of what I’m told we’re able to do.”
For the eight players who have tested positive, Big Ten protocols state the earliest they can return to competition is 21 days after the positive diagnosis. Locksley said returning to the field was “out of his control,” saying a combination of medical professionals from Prince George’s County and the university would make the call.
Maryland is scheduled to host Michigan State on Nov. 21, but that could change. Earlier this season, Wisconsin canceled two games due to a coronavirus outbreak that impacted 27 people within the program, including 15 players. The Badgers will return to play this weekend.
And elsewhere in the country, with cases on the rise in the general public, plenty of games have been impacted. The SEC has postponed four games this weekend. Navy has missed two consecutive weeks, and Pitt rescheduled its game against Georgia Tech to next month following cases within its program.
The CDC reported 143,408 new cases in the U.S. on Wednesday, the highest rise in a single day so far.
Because the football team is tested daily, Locksley said much of the contact tracing is “taken out of the mix.” Still, he doesn’t know what the future will hold, and didn’t want to make any assumptions about upcoming developments.
“The forecasting piece is what I try to stay away from,” Locksley said. “… When you try to organize and create a program for 110 players, 35-plus staff members, as much as we like to forecast, and prepare and put together scheduling to take care of down the road, I’m staying pretty neutral and remaining in the moment.”
It’s a byproduct of the climate he’s living in. Locksley said each week the team prepares for two opponents: the one on the football field and the coronavirus. This week, it’s the latter one the team faces.
“2020 has just showed me that you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring,” Locksley said.
• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.
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