March Madness: How the NCAA will handle men’s and women’s teams with COVID-19 issues

Duke and Virginia were forced to withdraw from the men's Atlantic Coast Conference college basketball tournament on consecutive days because of positive tests, raising concerns about the protocols for COVID-19 and how they will impact the playing of the men's and women's NCAA tournaments.

As more teams continue to experience problems with outbreaks, it is becoming clear that the possibility of the pandemic affecting the tournaments remains high. Rules and protocols were issued by the NCAA last month.

The men's tournament has 68 teams and the women's has 64.

Some of the key questions ahead of next week's events:

How are teams cleared to play?

Teams are being required to produce seven consecutive days of negative test results in order to play in Indianapolis and San Antonio, where the men's and women's events are being played, respectively. The requirement includes every member of a school's allotted 34-person travel party. Teams can elect to travel with a significantly smaller group should some members of the party be ruled out by positive tests or contact tracing. Those held back would be required to meet necessary protocols to allow for travel at a later date.

in the case of Virginia, the Cavaliers will play in the first round either next Friday or Saturday, so there is enough time to meet the negative test requirement. But the window is close. Much will depend on whether other players test positive or are forced to contact trace. A team must have five cleared players to participate.

The NCAA has not said whether it will adjust the schedule for teams with known positive tests or contact tracing concerns to allow them to start on the second day of the first round. 

How will players be monitored after arriving?

After being cleared to travel, members of the travel party will be tested again, placed into quarantine until given a negative result, and then given daily PCR tests for the remainder of their stay.

Players will wear a SafeTag, devices about the size of a domino and weighing less than one ounce that will assist in contact tracing. The device can be carried in pockets, worn as a bracelet or connected to a lanyard.

Teams will be eligible to enter and remain in the tournament as long as five players remain healthy and available.

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