It comes as no secret that the University of Wisconsin football program suffered one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the NCAA. While the team’s most recent update confirmed that only two players and three staff members are currently positive, the program is less than a week removed from having 27 confirmed cases, teetering on the edge of the Big Ten’s red-red positivity rate and triggering a mandatory shutdown for the program.
Though the program did not mathematically reach these levels and instead went into an optional and temporary shutdown of all football operations, questions regarding whether or not the protocols set forth by the conference are sufficient in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks in other sports arose.