Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 OCT. 10, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL AND LOU SOMOGYI F ollowing its 52-0 win over South Florida Sept. 19, Notre Dame had about 20 percent of its roster stuck in COVID-19 protocols. The mass personnel unavailability and, of course, the reason for it were two of the triggers for postponing the Sept. 26 game at Wake Forest. Now with three weeks in between games, Notre Dame will try to reset and curb its spread of COVID-19 with hopes of playing the Oct. 10 game against Florida State as scheduled. The steps back to playing will be largely the same ones taken with players who previously tested posi- tive or went into quarantine through contact tracing. It has a base, but is open for modification. "It has always been an evolving situation," head coach Brian Kelly said. "We're learning things daily about how to attack this virus utiliz- ing all the procedures and protocols, including testing." Everything stems from the ACC's rules, which require a player who tests positive to isolate for 10 days and a player who is identified through contact tracing to quarantine for 14 days. Those are non-negotiable rules. Players must quarantine for that entire length even if they test negative every day and even though Notre Dame's university policy man- dates only a seven-day quarantine. Isolation separates players who are confirmed to have COVID-19. Quaran- tine separates and restricts movement of those who were exposed to the virus — determined through contact tracing — to see if they become sick. Both of them prevent players from practicing, which in turn gives them less opportunity to maintain playing shape. A 10-day absence can mean a player misses only one game, but that's not accounting for the need to practice a couple times before playing. A 14-day quarantine takes a player out of two games, and can threaten a third if that player cannot practice enough. But Notre Dame feels confident in its plan for quarantined players to ensure two weeks doesn't impact the rest of their season. "When they are able to test negative twice, we can begin a modified con- ditioning program with those guys," Kelly said. "They have a modified quarantine workout program that gets them back and in pretty good shape." With the players who tested posi- tive, a number of different evalua- tions, including an Electrocardio- gram (EKG) to monitor the heart, are mandated before getting cleared. Among the players who were an- nounced prior to the Sept. 19 win over South Florida as unavailable were sophomore quarterback Bren- don Clark, junior running back Jah- mir Smith, junior slot receiver Law- rence Keys III, junior defensive end Ovie Oghoufo, junior Buck lineback- ers Shayne Simon and Marist Liufau, and junior cornerback TaRiq Bracy. Other such as sophomore safety Kyle Hamilton (ankle) and fifth-year senior wideout Bennett Skowronek (hamstring) did not play because of injuries. The ACC mandates PCR tests (a coronavirus test done via nasal swab) three times during the week, includ- ing the day before the game and again within 48 hours of the contest. The third is usually on Wednesday. Individual schools then have the flexibility to expand testing. Notre Dame has daily testing avail- able to those who need it. Certain positions, mainly linemen, are sub- jected to daily testing. The need for it is determined by distance from each other, duration around each other and how often they're face-to-face. Linemen check off all three. "If you fall under those categories, you're generally coming up with linemen," Kelly said. "We're testing those guys every day." With Wake Forest pushed back, Notre Dame won't have to travel for UNDER THE DOME PREPARED FOR ANYTHING Notre Dame has detailed plans to deal with every COVID-19 situation During a practice in September, the Fighting Irish took some time out to thank the dedicated health care professionals who administer the team's COVID-19 testing, which occurs a minimum of three times per week. Certain positions, mainly linemen, are subjected to daily testing. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS