Four Michigan athletes among 375 tested are positive for COVID-19

Michigan has conducted 375 COVID-19 tests of student-athletes who have returned to campus and have had four positive results.

In the school’s latest testing, July 6 and 7, of student-athletes, coaches and staff, 192 were administered tests and two results were positive, both student-athletes. There have been 139 tests of staff members with zero positive test results.

Michigan president Mark Schlissel, in a Faculty Senate town hall on Wednesday, said the university will test all students for the coronavirus as they return to campus. There will be surveillance testing throughout the semester and students will be given a safety kid that includes masks.

Faculty and staff members who exhibit virus symptoms, he said, will be tested, but there are not plans to test all faculty and staff members.

Since March 10, Schlissel said there have been 49 positive COVID-19 tests among students on the Ann Arbor campus with no known student hospitalizations or deaths related to the virus.

More: Jim Harbaugh: Wolverines putting in the work as team's leadership takes shape

Michigan football players and men's and women's basketball players were allowed to return to campus the week of June 15 ahead of voluntary workouts that began June 22. 

Starting July 24, coaches can be involved in practices with players as they move to a 20-hour week preseason camp. They will have meetings and walk-throughs.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters this week he has been pleased by the response of his players and described them as pro-active in terms of safety measures, understanding the coronavirus can affect anyone at any age.

“The biggest question I’m really getting from our players is how they can be part of the solution,” Harbaugh said. “A lot of the feedback has been, their peers, other people in their age group are somewhat or very cavalier about the virus, how it affects that age group.

“Their response has been, they want to be part of the solution. They want to be a force for good, an example. When they’re here, there are protocols that have been put in place. They’ve been terrific, really great about following those. They really understand it’s of great value to keep their own personal health but also that of their teammates. They’ve taken it to the extra level, when they’re out in public to have a mask, to wear a mask, to socially distance, to cooking their own food, to shopping, to everything that they’re doing to be a great example and a force for good.”