North Carolina suspends athletic activities for at least 24 hours

Two days after announcing a shift to online learning for classes and sending students home, UNC-Chapel Hill is shutting down athletics for 24 hours.

GoHeels.com posted late Wednesday afternoon that due to an “upward trend in positive COVID-19 test on campus, Carolina Athletics will immediately suspend athletic activities for all sports teams until at least 5 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday).”

UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham said the decision was made after consulting with health experts and University leadership.

“We want to make sure we continue to do everything we can to ensure that our teams, campus and community remain healthy.”

On Monday, the university announced that 130 students tested positive for COVID-19 and that all classes would be online. The announcement follows reports of four COVID-19 clusters over three days in dorms, apartments and a fraternity house. UNC has reported 324 confirmed cases — 279 students and 45 staff members — since February, according to its online dashboard.

UNC data showed 13.6 percent of the 954 students tested last week were positive — nearly twice the percentage testing positive on average in the previous three weeks. The university has reported four clusters of positive COVID-19 cases since Friday: in the Ehringhaus and Hinton James dorms, in the university-affiliated Granville Towers apartments, and at Sigma Nu fraternity. A cluster is defined as five or more positive cases.

After that announcement UNC put out a statement saying that athletes would be allowed to workout, practice and take online classes. Shutting athletics down for at least one day gives the university a chance to test athletes without the rest of the students on campus.

This is the second time the Tar Heels have had to halt athletic activities. UNC had to stop voluntary football workouts this summer after 37 players, coaches and staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

On Tuesday, UNC football coach Mack Brown told the media he was confident the season would be played in 2020. He added most of his players were taking classes online anyway, and students leaving campus would create a “better bubble.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 5:25 PM.