The Return - Part 3

From the LA Times: Like Miss Havisham’s clocks, time can seem frozen on the UCLA campus. A manual scoreboard at the school’s tennis center remains set up for a match that never took place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything else might seem unfamiliar when UCLA athletes start to return Sunday. Entering athletic facilities will involve lining up and standing at least six feet apart. Temperatures will be checked by a touch-less thermometer and anyone whose reading is 100.4 degrees or higher will be barred from entrance. Entry times will be logged as part of contract tracing. Dispensers will squirt out hand-sanitizing liquid.

Those measures are just part of the school’s plan for a voluntary return to campus that officials publicly unveiled Saturday during a Zoom meeting with reporters. Bringing athletes back is the first of a four-phase plan that, if things go well, would progress to conditioning, team practices and games, with local health officials and athletic governing bodies needing to approve the final two phases at a later date before they can commence.

“The overriding goal and theme to all of this is trying to do this in a way that’s safe,” said David McAllister, UCLA’s head team physician. “The health and safety of our student-athletes is our No. 1 priority and that is the thing that is driving our key decision-making.”

The first group slated to return is the football team and other fall sports athletes who live within a 50-mile radius of campus. University officials said they were unsure just how many athletes were expected back as part of the first group that will be housed in single-occupancy apartments and dorm rooms. Other athletes will be allowed to return later, in stages, following the successful return of the first group. Athletes have already been asked to track their activity for the 14 days before their planned arrival on campus and complete a questionnaire to determine eligibility to return in an effort to ensure they don’t harbor symptoms or known exposure to anyone who has contracted the disease.

Those who return to campus via flights will have to undergo a seven-day quarantine before commencing any testing; those who live locally can begin testing immediately. Athletes will undergo a nasal swab diagnostic test and a blood-based antibody test for COVID-19 upon their return, as well as ongoing diagnostic testing with an undetermined frequency based on suggested medical guidelines. Those who test negative for the active presence of the disease can progress to a series of medical tests including a physical, mental health screening and concussion baseline testing. Athletes will then undergo functional movement and athletic performance screenings to help measure readiness to ramp up training.

UCLA officials said they expect some athletes to test positive for the novel coronavirus. Those who do will enter an isolation protocol that involves housing in a dedicated dorm with single-occupancy rooms. They will be isolated for a minimum of 14 days while undergoing monitoring by a medical team and having all meals provided, and a return to training will be contingent upon successful completion of an acclimatization period that includes further testing. School officials said they had no information when asked whether any players, coaches or staff had previously tested positive for COVID-19. Any subsequent positives would be reported through the university but would be identified only as part of reporting involving all students and not specified as athletes...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2020-06-20/ucla-athletes-will-bravely-enter-new-world-upon-return-to-campus