Duke has paused football activities indefinitely after identifying a cluster of 10 positive COVID-19 cases within the team, the school announced Tuesday.
In a statement, the school said the 10 individuals attended team activities together and are currently in isolation. Contact tracing also identified close contacts, who are now in quarantine.
Duke started spring practice Feb. 26 and had three workouts before pausing. The Blue Devils made it through the entire 2020 season without having to pause activities.
West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, the chair of the NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee, told ESPN that if a school isn’t able to complete its 15 spring practices within 34 consecutive days because of COVID-19, it could be reviewed “on a case-by-case basis.”
“What happens if you run into a situation with your coaching staff, student-athletes, and you have to put it on pause for several days?” Lyons said. “We didn’t want to start creating a blanket waiver and all of that, so we just said we would handle it through the NCAA staff on a case-by-case basis to get those days back so everybody remains whole as you move forward.”
For this spring only, teams also can have two additional hours per week for film study and team meetings if they need it, allowing for a total of 10 hours weekly for football-related activities, including no more than two hours for walk-throughs.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich contributed to this report.