MADISON – Due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, the University of Wisconsin is shutting its campus for two weeks and pausing all workouts for the football and men’s hockey teams.
The decision comes following the fifth day of classes and after each of the last two days saw a positivity rate of at least 20 percent among students (over 1,000 infected). The city-county public health department said there are at least 46 separate outbreaks currently tied to UW-Madison.
In-person classes will be paused from Thursday through Sept. 25. Online courses will start Monday.
“Our department has, all along, aligned with Chancellor Blank on messaging to our student-athletes the importance of safe behaviors and practices designed to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said in a statement. “I will continue to make sure our student-athletes and staff hear that message.
“We have been conducting our own COVID-19 testing of student-athletes and staff on a regular basis since early June and will continue to do so. Since we began testing in Athletics, our decision-making has been guided by our own test results. That continues to be our plan.”
Alvarez is the chairperson of the Big Ten's return to competition task force, which has been working to gather information about testing, contact tracing, health effects and issues related to COVID-19 as the league tries to salvage a 2020 football schedule. The Big Ten announced on Aug. 11 it was shutting down all fall sports because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
UW’s athletic department last publicized its COVID-19 case numbers in early August, stating 21 of 259 student-athletes tested from June until then were COVID-19 positive. The athletic department is not releasing COVID-19 test results broken down by team or date of test.
The football program was slated to begin workouts and other activities under the NCAA-mandated 12-hour-per-week limit for teams not playing their fall sport. Men’s hockey started practice in two groups last Wednesday, using the four hours per week of on-ice time that the NCAA allows outside of the playing season. Men’s basketball will continue to practice with its allotted time per NCAA rules.
UW's move to pause in-person instruction and workouts come one day after legislative leaders in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania wrote to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren asking he reconsider the league's decision to shut down fall sports. State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald represented Wisconsin in the letter.
While students are not being directed to leave, in-person study spaces, recreation buildings and in-person gatherings of more than 10 people are closed or canceled. UW is also quarantining students in Sellery and Witte residence halls — over 2,200 students — for 14 days.
"I share the disappointment and frustration of students and employees who had hoped we might enjoy these first few weeks of the academic year together," Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. "Before we started this semester, we knew that no plan would be risk-free in the current environment.”
