It has now been a full month since the athletic department had just a 3.5% positive rate, and it’s now dropped it to 2.5%. In the most recent testing sample, 2,183 athletes were tested in the month of September. Only 55 tests came back with a positive result, giving the school a total of 98 positive tests since June.

Athletes who test positive for COVID-19 are self-isolated and enter a protocol the school has in place. In order to return to play, the athlete must be cleared by a team physician.

With the Big Ten football season starting up, their protocols require a player to be away from competition for at least 21 days. In an eight game season, this would require missing three weeks of an already condensed season.