Inside The Huskies

UW Experiences Spike in Positive COVID Tests for Athletes

The school goes from zero to seven in a week's time of campus monitoring.
Dan Raley|
UW Experiences Spike in Positive COVID Tests for Athletes
UW Experiences Spike in Positive COVID Tests for Athletes

The University of Washington athletic department went from zero to seven athletes testing positive for COVID-19 in a week's time, a school spokesman said.

The school does not identify the affected individuals by name or sport, citing privacy limitations.

While it may be only coincidental, UW football players resumed winter workouts over that time, lifting and and running together, as shown in images and video posted by the school. 

The positive tests were uncovered among 579 athletes who went through weekly campus testing, which has been in place for the past nine months. Those students are receiving prescribed virus care and going through quarantine protocols.

The UW men's basketball team appears to have avoided positive tests during its season and is likely down to seven games to play, including a Pac-12 tournament game.

The Husky women's team hasn't been quite so fortunate, going through a stretch in January where it couldn't play five consecutive games.

Jimmy Lake's football team experienced an outbreak in early December that prevented it from playing at Oregon, against USC in the Pac-12 title game and in a possible bowl game. The Huskies played only four games out of seven dates scheduled.

At one point, the footballers lost their entire offensive line through positive tests and possible exposure. 

The UW baseball team also experienced a late-fall outbreak that forced it to halt all offseason workouts, according to the school. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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