figuring out ‘COVID etiquette’

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Auburn football figuring out ‘COVID etiquette’

By Giana Han

3-4 minutes

Nick Curtis (95) Auburn football practice on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020 in Auburn, Ala. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Gus Malzahn’s goal for the week is simply “to practice.”

Last week, after the team experienced a rash of COVID-19 cases followed by the tragedy in Wisconsin, practice was called off. The football team had only participated in one practice, which was held Tuesday. With four weeks left to go before the first game, the pressure is on.

“There’s definitely an urgency,” Malzahn said. “But the bottom line is the health and safety of our players is always going to be first. When you’re going through this, there’s a competitive side, but we’re always going to put our team first; the mental and physical health of our players.”

On Sunday, Malzahn was able to meet with his players again, and he said it was “very good.” The plan moving forward is to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday with another scrimmage on Saturday.

“No matter how many we’ve got out, we’re going to continue to practice this week,” Malzahn said. “We’ll just have to adjust as it goes.”

Auburn will be without at least 16 players in the coming week. After testing positive for COVID-19, players must quarantine 10 days with a seven-day re-acclimation period. Players in close contact with someone who tests positive must quarantine for 14 days. They cannot test out of that quarantine period.

The 16 players’ quarantine period overlaps with the week’s practice, and two position groups were hit hard, but Malzahn said they’ll just have to make the best of it. Adjustment is “the name of the game moving forward,” he said. If it were a game week, Malzahn said, they would find a way to play.

One of the biggest adjustments the team has had is figuring out how to proceed with students back on campus. Prior to their classmates’ return, the Auburn Tigers had gone two weeks without a positive COVID case. Two weeks after their return, the number shot up.

Malzahn said they can’t trace the outbreak back to one specific incident. With one player, it happened in the dorms. With another, it happened with an off-campus roommate. They were things that the team didn’t have to consider as much before the rest of the Auburn students came back.

“It’s a learning process,” Malzahn said. “You bring the students back on campus, you know—if you live off-campus, you have a roommate, you got to have your mask on, you got to stay on the other side of the house.”

Now, they know. Malzahn is confident that his players will “adapt and adjust” as they do everything they can to keep their team healthy.

“It’s really just learning how to operate using COVID etiquette,” Malzahn said. “I feel strongly that we’ll be better next week than we were this past week.”

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