As pessimism about the reality of playing a full college football season this fall continues to build, no obstacle looms larger than the arrival of students on campus.
The biggest variable feared by medical experts, coaches and athletic directors is the arrival of tens of thousands of students from all over the country to many campuses that play FBS football. On most campuses, the students arrive around the same point when the football schedule begins, and the risk of significant spreading of COVID-19 will increase sharply.
“What I'm really worried about is, campus by campus, across the country, students coming back on the campus and spreading [the virus] like wildfire in their living situations,” said Paul Pottinger, an infectious disease expert at the University of Washington and a member of the Pac-12’s COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee.