ACC Announced COVID-19 Procedures

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced yesterday that the conference would play 10 conference football games with one additional out-of-conference game as long as the game is played in the university's home state. Additionally the conference made its seven-page document of  COVID-19 procedures that each member university will follow available to the public.

The ACC will meet a set of standards created by the medical advisory group who are prominent members of the conference. Non conference opponents are required to follow these guidelines as well for at minimum two-weeks prior to competing with the ACC.

• Football players and staff will be tested weekly, beginning week 1. The test much be given within three days of competition.
  • The same guidelines will be used for other sports considered high risk: Volleyball, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Lacrosse, Men's and Women's Basketball, Wrestling and Rowing.
• Medium Risk sports like, Baseball, Softball and Cross Country will be tested on a bi-weekly basis.
• Low Risk sports like, Golf, Tennis Track & Field and Swimming & Diving are not required to be regularly tested. The athletes in this sport would only be required to test if displaying symptoms.
• Contact tracing will be required for all athletes and athletes are encouraged to forgo prolonged close contact with others.
• An athlete who tests positive will be isolated for at least 10 days.
  • An athlete who registers a positive test is not subject to weekly pre-competition testing for a period of 90 days, unless the athlete displays symptoms.
• Should an Athlete test positive after a competition, that information must be shared with the opposing team in no less than 24 hours in order to asses the risks taken by the opposing teams.
• All individuals not participating in the game must wear a face covering on the sidelines. Helmets are an exception for football and lacrosse players.
• Games will be discontinued for the following reasons.
  • An inability to isolate new positive cases
  • Inability to preform pre competition testing
  • Campus-wide or local community transmission rates that are considered unsafe by local health officials
  • Local public health officials of the home team state that there is an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge in COVID-related hospitalizations.

The Atlantic Coast Conference is hoping that these protocols will enable them to accomplish a full 10 game conference schedule with one non-conference game for football and maintain a normal year across all athletics.