Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse University Thursday night revealed that a member of its men’s basketball program had tested positive for Covid-19.
That information came at 6:18 p.m. while the men’s team was warming up to play Niagara at 8 in the Carrier Dome.
Buddy Boeheim was not among the Syracuse players warming up before the game. None of SU’s walk-ons warmed up. Nor was Bourama Sidibe in the Dome; Sidibe recently had surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
Alan Griffin, Quincy Guerrier, John Bol Ajak, Kadary Richmond, Woody Newton, Frank Anselem, Joe Girard, Robert Braswell, Jesse Edwards and Marek Dolezaj all participated in pre-game warmup drills. SU will have 10 players at its disposal for tonight’s game.
To be clear: SU will not say specifically who tested positive in its program. The person who tested positive and anybody deemed a close contact needs to isolate (the positive person) and quarantine (the close contacts) according to CDC and ACC guidelines.
Boeheim, the junior guard, scored 21 points in SU’s win over Bryant last week. He and the rest of his teammates and coaches went 12 days between Syracuse’s Nov. 15 announced pause on the program until its Thanksgiving day practice leading up to the Bryant game. The Orange played its season-opener a day later.
It’s unclear how the ACC will deal with contact tracing during its basketball season, but the fact that some Syracuse players were sent into quarantine and the rest of the Orange were allowed to practice and play suggests a change has been made.
Most ACC teams are wearing wristwatch-like devices that emit sounds to alert the wearers when they come within six feet of someone else during a practice day. The data from those devices can then be examined and dissected to determine who is considered a close contact to the positive case. The Onondaga County Health Department has examined the system and approved it for contact tracing.
An ACC spokesman this week was not sure whether the conference would alter its Covid-19 medical protocols, which call for everyone deemed a close contact to an infected person to quarantine for 14 days. The conference’s medical advisory board, he said, had not recently updated any of its protocols.
He was asked today whether the conference had moved yet on its required quarantines, either because of the wearable devices or because the CDC has since determined close contacts of infected people can cut their quarantine periods to seven days with a negative Covid test. He said he needed more time to further research the situation.
These are questions that will need to be answered going forward. Coronavirus cases are spiking to their highest levels since Covid-19 first appeared in the United States. Coaches fully expect game cancelations/postponements to happen when a positive case arises in their programs.
Jim Boeheim said last week that requiring all Tier 1 personnel (coaches, players, team managers, medical personnel) to quarantine after a single positive Covid test would “destroy” the 2020-21 college basketball season.
Related:
Jim Boeheim calls decision to play Bryant game ‘foolish,’ wants more reasonable Covid quarantines
How Syracuse will test basketball athletes for Covid, and more on those wearable devices
Ryan McMahon: Syracuse men’s basketball season-opener can be played; school now needs to decide
Donna Ditota is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? Reach her at [email protected].
