Nick Saban watch continues as the coach reported good health again Wednesday morning.
Speaking on the SEC coaches teleconference, Saban repeated his optimism from Monday that he’ll be on the sideline at 7 p.m. Saturday against LSU.
“I’ll be evaluated by medical staff on a daily basis and I still fully expect to be able to coach this game on Saturday,” Saban said.
His comments come exactly a week after Alabama announced he tested positive for COVID-19. It sidelined him for the 42-13 win over Auburn though he said he’s feeling fine and experiencing minimal symptoms.
SEC protocols state symptomatic infections — which Saban has — require isolation “for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms.” At least 24 hours must pass since the last fever without the help of medications.
Ten days from last Wednesday, if that’s the first day Saban showed symptoms, would be this Saturday but it’s not entirely clear which day he first showed signs of the virus.
The new quarantine recommendations from the CDC for contact traced exposures was also a topic on the SEC teleconference. The CDC previously called for a 14-day quarantine for someone who came in close contact with an infected individual but is now saying that could be trimmed down to seven-to-10 days with the use of testing.
Saban welcomed the changes.
“I think it’s pretty significant difference,” he said. “I think everybody’s felt from the beginning that when you get quarantined and you may not even get sick, but 14 days was a pretty long time to be you know quarantined. But we’ve always respected the science. I think now that there’s more testing, maybe they have more evidence of what really is safe for the players, you know, relative to the quarantine time and the testing — the combination of the two of those things and, you know, sort of how it affects the science.
“So, you know, I’m no doctor so I’m not trying to say it’s right wrong or indifferent, but we did have a lot of respect for whatever the science is and obviously the people at the CDC certainly have all the information they need to make a good decision about what’s safe.”
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
