Michigan athletics: 14 athletes, 1 staff member test positive for COVID-19
Fourteen University of Michigan athletes and one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week, the athletic department announced in a news release Friday.
The updated data, which Michigan releases every week, comes as the Wolverines football program remains sidelined with a COVID-19 outbreak. This week's data includes tests administered between Nov. 28 and Friday.
Michigan does not reveal COVID-19 positivity rates for each team, only the athletic department as a whole. But at least 12 members of the football program tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, sources told the Free Press on Friday, confirming an Associated Press report.
On Wednesday, Michigan announced it was canceling Saturday's game at Maryland and would not resume in-person football activities until at least Monday. There is pessimism about U-M's ability to play at Ohio State on Dec. 12, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press.
Athletic director Warde Manuel said Wednesday the Wolverines were waiting for "over 100 tests" to come back and that the cancelation of this week's game was due to an increase in COVID-19 "positive tests and associated contract tracing due to our most recent antigen and PCR testing results."
In this week's COVID update, Michigan says received 15 positive results among 2,562 tests administered. In total, the Wolverines have administered 27,578 tests, with 201 total positive results.
The football program has not disclosed its test positivity rate or population positivity rate. The Big Ten conference's protocol requires teams to "stop regular practice and competition for a minimum of seven days and reassess metrics until improved" if the test positivity rate (number of positive tests divided by total number of tests administered) exceeds 5%, and the population positivity rate (number of positive individuals divided by total population at risk) exceeds 7.5%.
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan athletics: 14 athletes, 1 staff member COVID-19 positive
