How Mizzou football mitigates COVID-19 risks when the Tigers travel to road games
It’s been four weeks since the Missouri Tigers have traveled to an away game during the coronavirus pandemic. That hasn’t been by design as Hurricane Delta and a COVID-19 postponement have shuffled Mizzou’s 2020 football schedule.
With travel comes a slew of logistical challenges as MU tries to keep players, coaches and staff safe. And Mizzou has stood up to that task, said Nick Joos, assistant athletic director for communications, figuring out details on seating, hotel room assignments and other areas.
No matter how cautious the players and coaches are, MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said, that still leaves them susceptible to contact tracing. And that’s part of the challenges that come as the Tigers travel to play No. 10 Florida at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Gainesville, Florida.
“We will do the absolute best we possibly can, but when you put over 120 people in an organization on an airplane, there’s not a lot of ways out of contact tracing,” Drinkwitz said. “Unless we can get everybody a private plane, we’re going to have to live with the consequences if somebody gets it, there’s going to be contact tracing.”
In any normal year, Mizzou’s chartered flights are accompanied by boosters, administrative personnel and others that total up to about 150 passengers. During the pandemic, MU has cut that number off to about 120 people, Joos said. Seventy of those spots are for players on the travel roster, though Mizzou is down to 64 scholarship players, because of non-COVID reasons.
Joos said the middle seat is open on the flight wherever possible, and positional groups are split up. So, if one player tests positive for COVID-19, contact tracing won’t wipe out the rest of the position. Those protocols aren’t limited to just players, but also coaches as each person’s seating arrangement is worked out ahead of of time.
“We put a lot of thought into our travel plan,” Joos said. “Anybody who travels with the team is in a protocol for testing. If you’re not being tested and you haven’t passed your test, you can’t get on the plane.”
Mizzou also spent significant time on hotel room assignments, Joos said, which doubles for home games as well. The Tigers stay in a local Columbia hotel the night before a home game, which is standard even during non-pandemic seasons.
The SEC’s COVID-19 guidelines stipulate that if a player tests positive for the virus, he doesn’t need to be re-tested for the rest of the season. And for a 90-day window, that player does not need to quarantine even if he is contact-traced with a COVID-positive individual.
MU has specifically used those guidelines to room players in the hotel, Joos said. For example, Player A, who previously contracted COVID-19, can room with Player B, who has not had the virus yet. Then, if Player B is infected by the virus, Player A does not have to go into quarantine as long as it’s within the 90-day window.
“When you pair all of those up, then the ones that are left get single rooms,” Joos said. “We’ve done that both at home and on the road.”
When the Tigers travel to Florida, it’ll be their second road game of the season. They traveled to Tennessee on Oct. 3. There are some stark differences between trips, though, and not just the length of the flight.
Joos pointed out the Tennessee game was an 11 a.m. kickoff, meaning the Tigers weren’t in Knoxville, Tennessee, for more than 24 hours from start-to-finish. But with Saturday’s game scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff, that means the team will need to be congnizent for a longer period of time.
Mizzou has included some other changes to its travel plans, including adding a fifth bus so that the maximum capacity of each vehicle is at about 40%. All meals are also to-go, so players are eating in their rooms instead of traditionally sitting down as a team.
“We all wear masks; we all do what we’re supposed to do,” Drinkwitz said. “We will expand our rooming list to try to accommodate less people paired up. Again, that becomes expensive and all kinds of things. We’ll do that to the very best we can, but we have learned.”
The Tigers had some COVID-19 struggles from their Tennessee road trip they had to sift through. One positive test resulted in six other players in quarantine through contact tracing, which is part of the realities of travel. The SEC mandates a 14-day quarantine if a player is found to be within close contact of an infected individual.
Florida had even more trouble on the road, which officials believe could have led to its COVID-19 outbreak. The Gators traveled to Texas A&M for an Oct. 10 game, and once they returned, had to shut down football activities Oct. 13 after a spur of positive tests.
Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin said during a news conference Oct. 14 that they had a few players who were exhibiting what they thought were “allergy-like symptoms.” Once they returned from the road trip, those players reported those symptoms. Testing then resulted in positive test. Florida practiced Monday for the first time within its facilities since the outbreak.
“We’re trying to do everything that we can to mitigate the possibility of spread or anything happening to our team,” Joos said. “So obviously that’s why we went to a fifth bus before the season started. We knew that and put a lot of thought into how are we going to seat kids on the plane, sit everyone really.”
Drinkwitz pointed out how some of the road challenges come with a simple area like visiting locker rooms. He added he’s never been to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, so he’s unsure what the conditions are like. Some programs are even notorious for how ill-equipped those locker rooms are. But during a pandemic, Drinkwitz said it’s difficult to limit contact tracing when in small confined areas while having dozens of players and coaches.
But that’s part of playing a football season during a pandemic, Joos said. Drinkwitz has praised his team for being so accommodating as MU looks to keep everyone safe.
“They’ve done a really good job of handling their business and understanding the significance of it,” Joos said of the players. “Doing everything they can to put themselves in the best position to stay safe so that they don’t miss games, they don’t miss practice. They have been great and they’ve adapted quickly when we’ve had to pivot.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.