“Everyone associated with the Big Ten should be very proud of the groundbreaking steps that are now being taken to better protect the health and safety of the student-athletes and surrounding communities,” Ohio State team physician Dr. Jim Borchers, a co-chair of the league’s Return to Competition Task Force medical subcommittee, said in a statement.
“The data we are going to collect from testing and the cardiac registry will provide major contributions for all 14 Big Ten institutions as they study COVID-19 and attempt to mitigate the spread of the disease among wider communities.”
Here is a look at the protocols:
- Daily antigen testing for all players, coaches, trainers and any other individuals on the field for all practices and games begins Sept. 30. This will take place prior to each practice and game, and players who test positive will undergo another test to confirm. The second test will be a polymerase chain reaction test, which is regarded as the most accurate test available and the one widely used in public testing.
- Those who are confirmed positive will not be allowed to return to game competition for at least 21 days. That includes a seven-day re-acclimation process with the team.
- A comprehensive cardiac testing program including labs and biomarkers, ECG, EKG and cardiac MRI also must be completed by any player who tests positive. An athlete found to have an inflammatory heart condition known as myocarditis will be ruled out for the rest of the season.
- Data from testing will be collected and reported to the Big Ten by a Chief Infection Officer, and a cardiac registry will be established in an effort to examine the effects of COVID-19 on players in hopes of expanding understanding of the disease on elite athletes.
- If more than 5 percent of the team and 7.5 percent of the team population (including coaches, trainers and other personnel with the team) test positive in a seven-day rolling average, the team will be idled for seven days. If one of those benchmarks is reached but not the other, the team may proceed with caution in both practice and competition.
The other Big Ten fall sports as well as winter sports that begin in the fall will resume with testing protocols as well, though specifics have not been announced yet.
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