UNLV to allow athletes to return beginning Monday
UNLV’s student-athletes can return to campus for voluntary workouts beginning Monday, the school announced Friday. Football, women’s soccer and volleyball players will be the first eligible to return.
Men’s and women’s basketball players, cross country athletes and men’s soccer players can return no earlier than June 15, the school said.
The Mountain West on Monday lifted a temporary suspension of in-person athletic activities amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the Rebels’ athletic department spent the remainder of the week finalizing a plan in the works since March in conjunction with state guidelines and recommendations from head team physician Wade Gaal, who also serves as an associate professor at the university’s school of medicine, and Brian Labus of the UNLV School of Public Health, who is on the governor’s COVID-19 team.
“We are encouraged by this first important step,” UNLV athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois said in a statement. “The primary focus was to map out a return to campus in a way that provides a safe and healthy environment for our student-athletes and mitigates risk, while preserving our mission.”
Student-athletes returning to campus for voluntary workouts must adhere to the following guidelines:
■ Mandatory coronavirus testing
■ Daily symptom screening and temperature checks
■ Compliance with social distancing and cleanliness protocols
■ Wearing a cloth facial covering at all times, except for during workouts
■ Mandatory protocol training
■ Enhanced sanitation procedures
Laundry services will be provided on a limited basis, but locker rooms will remained closed. The dates for which athletes in other sports can return to campus have not yet been determined.
In a statement, Gaal said it is critical that the athletes have an understanding of the policies and takes them to heart so the university can maintain the standard of care that is necessary to continue toward competition.
“This is only the beginning and the better we are with adhering to these policies, the better we will be in making the return to competitive sports a reality,” he said.
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.
