Michigan Athletics put on 14-day hiatus due to increase in COVID-19 cases

All University of Michigan sports will be suspended for two weeks beginning Sunday, Jan. 24, under an order from the state health department according to messages obtained by The Daily and confirmed by a source close to the Department of Health. sports. The order, which stops all athletic activity, including practice, is limited exclusively to UM athletics after a recent influx of positive cases from several Michigan teams.

A source told The Daily that there were five confirmed cases of the new COVID-19 B.1.1.7 variant, with another 15 suspected positive cases across the sports department. The new strain was first introduced at the start of the semester by a UM athlete from the UK. All members of the sports department should be quarantined for 14 days.

Last week, 22 student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 per version, 13 more than the week before. No trainer or staff member has tested positive.

As of Sunday morning, 87.2% of Michigan’s sports competitions were contested. Saturday, the women’s basketball team postponed his postponed game against Michigan State for this week. Wolverines had their own outbreak in early December after a game against Butler in which a Bulldog was tested positive the day after the match, leading to of them missed games.

The men’s basketball team played on Friday at Purdue, even as a tested Boilermaker positive on the day of the match. The volleyball team had their opening game against Penn State this weekend postponed due to positive tests under the Penn State program.

Now neither of those teams will play for the next two weeks.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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