A COVID-19 cluster within Charlotte 49ers football team postpones another game
.JPG "Charlotte coach Will Healy applauds during the first quarter of the team’s NCAA college football game against Duke on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, in Durham, N.C. (Jaylynn Nash/Pool Photo via AP)")
The Charlotte 49ers have postponed Saturday’s road game versus Middle Tennessee, due to positive COVID-19 testing and resulting contact tracing.
The 49ers were scheduled to play at 3:30, with the game broadcast online via ESPN+. This is the fourth time this season Charlotte has had a game canceled or postponed due to the pandemic.
No makeup date for this Conference USA game was announced.
The school’s health-advisory website reported “a cluster of seven cases of COVID-19 involving student-athletes and staff with the football team.”
According to that alert, the cases were discovered through both self-reporting of symptoms and regular testing of athletes and staff required by Conference USA.
Those testing positive are in isolation and the school is doing contact tracing.
“We are extremely disappointed to have to postpone our game at Middle Tennessee,” 49ers athletic director Mike Hill said in a statement. “The health and safety of everyone involved, however, remains the top priority during these challenging times.”
Previously, the 49ers’s road game against North Carolina on Sept. 19 was canceled. Games against Georgia State and Florida International were postponed.
Just this week, the 49ers announced the FIU game had been restored to the schedule for Dec. 5 and that Charlotte would play a home game against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 14.
The 49ers have games scheduled each of the next four weekends. Hill said in October he did not anticipate the Georgia State game being rescheduled.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:43 PM.
