Iowa athletics halts workouts after getting 93 positive coronavirus tests last week

Chad Leistikow
Hawk Central
Kirk Ferentz is shown during one of the few practices Iowa football was able to hold in early August.

University of Iowa sports teams have halted all workouts through at least Sept. 7 after 93 positive tests for the coronavirus were returned last week.

That includes the Hawkeye football team, which returned 11 of the positive tests, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told the Register.

Iowa football wasn't getting ready for a game, of course, with the Big Ten Conference last month postponing the fall sports season. But they had returned to the Hansen Football Performance Center last week for a handful of workouts.

Johnson County has become a hotspot for spread of the coronavirus. On Sunday alone, it had reported 190 new cases among 990 state-wide.

Hawkeye athletics had a positivity rate of 11.4% for the week of Aug. 24-30 (93 of 815 athletes and staff tested), by far its highest percentage since it began reporting numbers as part of its return-to-campus protocol in early June.

“Due to the recent increase in cases in the community, we have made the decision to pause voluntary and mandatory workouts until after Labor Day,” Andy Peterson, UI professor and head team physician, said in a statement. “We remain confident in our overall process, including testing, contact tracing and daily health screening."