It’s one of the most common questions facing the NFL as it attempts to proceed with its season as scheduled: What happens if, shortly after training camps open, a team has an outbreak of COVID-19? In the case of the University of Houston, the answer is to halt workouts.
The university announced on Friday that it was bringing workouts to a stop because six student-athletes tested positive.
Only football and basketball players had been back at Houston working out, only since June 1, and the only athletes tested were those who either showed symptoms or came from a place where the virus is rampant, the Houston Chronicle reports. So it’s entirely possible that a lot more than six athletes actually have the virus, especially given that healthy, college-age people are often asymptomatic.
The NCAA only begun allowing athletes to participate in team workouts less than two weeks ago, so it’s not a great sign that one athletic program has already been forced to shut down its workouts.
Several NCAA schools have already publicly disclosed that some athletes have tested positive: Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas State, Boise State, Clemson, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Marshall, Mississippi, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and UCF have all had positive tests.