How will COVID-19 affect daily life as Boise State brings players back to campus?
Marc Paul is used to being anonymous in his role as Boise State associate athletic director for sports performance, health and wellness.
But with colleges across the country trying to figure out how to bring athletes back to campus in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, he now finds himself on the front lines of a constantly evolving issue.
“We have plans, everybody does, but those plans change sometimes by the hour,” Paul said last week during a video meeting with reporters. “What we do now very likely won’t be how we do it a month from now or a semester or a year from now. This is definitely a work in progress.”
On June 23, Boise State released a 37-page document detailing its plan to bring athletes back for offseason workouts while limiting the transmission of the virus.
The plan is on hold after a string of positive COVID-19 tests across departments forced the university to close campus facilities through July 5. But according to a university spokesperson, about 86 football players are currently in town for conditioning sessions, and more will soon follow after the NCAA voted to allow organized team activities beginning July 13.
The Broncos football team is scheduled to open the season Sept. 5 against Georgia Southern. Here’s a glimpse at what daily life will look like for players, coaches and staff as they prepare.
Testing
Screening for COVID-19 will become a part of everyday life.
“We know we’re going to get positives. Everybody is going to get some,” Paul said. “What those numbers are and what you do with them and how it progresses from there, nobody knows that.”
Paul said athletes are tested as soon as they return to campus, and when possible, even before. Of the four positive cases the athletic department confirmed June 24, three were detected before the individuals arrived on campus.
When athletes return to campus after the latest shutdown, they will be tested again.
A daily online health screening is required for athletes and staff to enter training facilities, and once inside, they’ll undergo temperature checks and may be asked to fill out a risk assessment questionnaire. Anyone disclosing symptoms or showing a temperature hire than 99.5 degrees will be denied entry.
Testing is being coordinated through a partnership with Saint Alphonsus Health System, and according to a Boise State spokesperson, the cost of all the initial tests have been covered by the recipients’ primary insurance.
To help pay for re-occurring testing, the university has access to funds from the CARES Act — a federal program that provides economic assistance to individuals and small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic.
Paul couldn’t specify exactly how frequently players and coaches will be tested.
Challenges to accurate testing include the virus’ incubation period, which is anywhere from three to 14 days, and the fact that about 40% of infected people never show symptoms, according to the American College of Physicians.
“There’s not a hard, fast blueprint to follow that’s just equal across the board,” Paul said.
Isolation/quarantine
If a player does test positive, he’s immediately quarantined for 14 days, but truly isolating an infected person in a college environment presents unique challenges.
“You just kind of have to assume exposure to roommates at that point,” Paul said.
Whether in dorms or an apartment, most athletes have roommates — all of whom can be quarantined from those outside their home. But an infected person who requires isolation must be separated from those in the home.
A potential solution, laid out in Boise State’s return plan, is for the university to provide a dorm for students and athletes requiring isolation. Individuals in isolation will be monitored virtually, Paul said, and once symptoms have subsided, they will restart the testing process.
Education
There is little question in the minds of medical professionals across the country that wearing masks, social distancing and good hygiene are the most effective methods for slowing the spread of the virus.
At Boise State, administrators are tackling those issues through education.
As part of their return to campus, players and coaches will take a COVID-19 education course. It defines the virus, its symptoms and how it spreads, offers recommendations about personal protective equipment and social distancing guidelines and gives them a glimpse of what to expect in terms of changes to daily life.
The university is requiring masks be worn on campus, except during outdoor workouts, but Paul said the crux of the situation is that all the safety measures in the world won’t matter if players don’t practice the same measures when they’re off campus.
The consequences of a night out were laid bare when at least 30 LSU players tested positive and were quarantined after frequenting local nightclubs.
“Just because you’re a young college kid, it doesn’t mean you get to say I feel good and I’m out,” Paul said. “No, this is on everybody to step up and take responsibility for it.”
Facilities
Social distancing will be imperative inside the Broncos’ facilities, but that’s also where it’s the most difficult.
On top of asking everyone to wear masks, the university is limiting the hours facilities are open in an effort to give more time for sanitation and suspending all use by those outside the athletic department.
Smaller workout groups and staggered training times will limit the number of players in the facilities at once. Paul said some workouts are being organized by roommate instead of position group. There’s even discussion about moving strength and conditioning sessions to locations that allow for greater airflow, such as the Boas tennis/soccer complex or Caven-Williams indoor practice facility.
To ensure proper distancing in the weight room, athletes will use every other rack, and each station will be sanitized between use. In its return plan, Boise State’s medical professionals say athletes need at least 113 square feet of personal space to adequately limit the danger of transmission even when they aren’t working out. When including exertion and heavy breathing, that bubble expands to 400-500 square feet.
High traffic areas, such as training rooms, physician’s clinics, locker rooms and meeting rooms, will be disinfected two or three times a week, while door knobs, light switches, handrails, card scanners and restroom and shower fixtures will be disinfected multiple times a day.
Practice
One of the most pressing questions in all of this: What will practice look like once players can actually hit the field?
“At some point, you have to play the game,” Paul said. “When we get to practices, I don’t know what that’s going to look like if I’m honest with you. Nobody does.”
There will be no more communal hydration systems or sharing water bottles or towels. The football will have to be disinfected at regular intervals, and Paul said there’s a face shield currently in development that will cover a player’s face mask, limiting the threat of transmission through droplets in the breath.
With fall camp scheduled to begin in a little more than a month, questions continue to swirl around every aspect of bringing athletes back to campus while responsibly aiding the effort to slow the spread of the virus. And as more athletes test positive for COVID-19 around the country, players, coaches and fans will continue to hold out hope that there will be a 2020 season.
