Covid variant halts sports for 2 weeks at U-M, which has at least 5 cases of mutant strain

The highly contagious Covid variant B.1.1.7 has been detected in a Wayne County man and in two additional women linked to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the state said Saturday. At least five cases now are tied to several U-M sports teams.

Warde Manuel, athletic director: "we must do everything we can to minimize the spread." (Photos: U-M Athletic Department)

 

Wayne's County case isn't tied to the U-M diagnoses, which shows the strain is spreading locally from multiple soures. Officials haven't said where the Wayne patient lives.

The first Ann Arbor diagnosis Jan. 16 involved a female University of Michigan athlete who returned from the United Kingdom, according to The Michigan Daily student paper, which adds:

All University of Michigan athletics will be paused for two weeks starting Sunday, in accordance with an order from the state health department. ...

The order, which halts all athletic activity including practice, is limited exclusively to U-M athletics after a recent influx of positive cases within several Michigan teams. ... A source told The Daily that there were five confirmed cases of the new variant, with 15 more presumed positives throughout the athletic department. ...

All members of the athletic department are expected to quarantine for 14 days.

The apparent spread in just a week shows why doctors warn about the mutant strain's heightened risk. 

Athletic director Warde Manuel says in a statement quoted by the campus paper:

"Canceling competitions is never something we want to do, but with so many unknowns about this variant of Covid-19, we must do everything we can to minimize the spread among student-athletes, coaches, staff and to the student-athletes at other schools."

No coaches or staff tested positive, according to student sportswriter Ethan Sears.

The two-week pause in play and practices affects men's and women's basketball, volleyball and ice hockey.

“The new variant is present in Michigan and we are at risk of seeing more spread of Covid-19," Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Resources, says in a statement Saturday.

"Everyone should do their part to end this pandemic. Get tested if you have been exposed, have symptoms, or have recently traveled to an area with a new variant spreading." 

U-M Athletics South Complex opened in 2017 as a training gym for student teams.