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UAF hockey team quarantined after player tests positive for COVID-19 following off-campus gathering
The entire University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team is in quarantine because at least one player has tested positive for COVID-19 following an off-campus social gathering Aug. 22 attended by several student athletes.
UAF Chancellor Dan White and Vice Chancellor Keith Champagne announced the hockey team’s quarantine at a Saturday news conference. White also said student athletes from other unspecified sports were also in isolation because they also were at the private event held at the home of one of the Nanook hockey players.
“Because the hockey team, as a team, the possibility of having had close interactions, that team was put into quarantine as a precaution,” White said in the news conference held by video.
“That’s not to say, though, that the whole team was at that gathering, but that team has been interacting over the last couple weeks and there’s the potential they would have been in what’s called close contact in the last couple weeks.
“And that team for that reason was quarantined ,” he said.
Twenty-one players on the hockey roster are in 14-day quarantine, as are six other student athletes. It was not immediately clear when the quarantine began or whether any of the coaching staff is in quarantine,
In an email notice sent to wide UAF community Saturday, White wrote that, “Several individuals who attended this event have since tested positive for COVID-19. As a result of this, a number of our students are in quarantine; two of them, because they tested COVID-19 positive, are in isolation.”
Seven student athletes tested positive for COVID-19 in the seven days following the Aug. 22 gathering, according to information provided by UAF spokeswoman Marmian Grimes later Saturday. She cautioned that UAF does not know whether students contracted the virus at that event.
The number of hockey players and other student athletes who attended the party wasn’t available during the news conference.
“I think it’s our expectation that there were multiple student athletes, but the exact number is a number that the contact tracers have,” White said “We know there were multiple athletes. What specific sports , I don’t have exact numbers with me on which sports were represented
Champagne, when asked if any coaches or UAF supervisory staff were at the gathering, said, “Absolutely not. No official athletics coaches or staff were present at this gathering.”
Champagne called the gathering an episode of “poor judgment” by students.
“We do have a student conduct process that is done through our Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities, and they are currently investigating,” he said. “We do entitle students to their rights of full due process as we conduct our investigation.
“Upon conclusion of the investigation, then the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities will meet with the students involved, and they will decide what university regulations and or mandates were violated,” he said.
Students could receive a verbal warning or be suspended or expelled from UAF, Champagne said.
In another incident, UAF also distributed a campus alert regarding a person at the Student Recreation Center who tested positive for COVID-19 and warning that anyone who was at the center on the following dates and times may be a close contact of the infected person: Friday, Aug. 21, 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 22, 6:30-10 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 23, 2-7 p.m.; Monday, Aug. 24, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Tuesday, Aug. 25, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Overall, White said 37 students, including the student athletes, are in quarantine. Six students have tested positive for the virus.
Contact Editor Rod Boyce at 459-7585. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMeditor.
The entire University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team is in quarantine because at least one player has tested positive for COVID-19 following an off-campus social gathering Aug. 22 attended by several student athletes.
UAF Chancellor Dan White and Vice Chancellor Keith Champagne announced the hockey team’s quarantine at a Saturday news conference. White also said student athletes from other unspecified sports were also in isolation because they also were at the private event held at the home of one of the Nanook hockey players.
“Because the hockey team, as a team, the possibility of having had close interactions, that team was put into quarantine as a precaution,” White said in the news conference held by video.
“That’s not to say, though, that the whole team was at that gathering, but that team has been interacting over the last couple weeks and there’s the potential they would have been in what’s called close contact in the last couple weeks.
“And that team for that reason was quarantined ,” he said.
Twenty-one players on the hockey roster are in 14-day quarantine, as are six other student athletes. It was not immediately clear when the quarantine began or whether any of the coaching staff is in quarantine,
In an email notice sent to wide UAF community Saturday, White wrote that, “Several individuals who attended this event have since tested positive for COVID-19. As a result of this, a number of our students are in quarantine; two of them, because they tested COVID-19 positive, are in isolation.”
Seven student athletes tested positive for COVID-19 in the seven days following the Aug. 22 gathering, according to information provided by UAF spokeswoman Marmian Grimes later Saturday. She cautioned that UAF does not know whether students contracted the virus at that event.
The number of hockey players and other student athletes who attended the party wasn’t available during the news conference.
“I think it’s our expectation that there were multiple student athletes, but the exact number is a number that the contact tracers have,” White said “We know there were multiple athletes. What specific sports , I don’t have exact numbers with me on which sports were represented
Champagne, when asked if any coaches or UAF supervisory staff were at the gathering, said, “Absolutely not. No official athletics coaches or staff were present at this gathering.”
Champagne called the gathering an episode of “poor judgment” by students.
“We do have a student conduct process that is done through our Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities, and they are currently investigating,” he said. “We do entitle students to their rights of full due process as we conduct our investigation.
“Upon conclusion of the investigation, then the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities will meet with the students involved, and they will decide what university regulations and or mandates were violated,” he said.
Students could receive a verbal warning or be suspended or expelled from UAF, Champagne said.
In another incident, UAF also distributed a campus alert regarding a person at the Student Recreation Center who tested positive for COVID-19 and warning that anyone who was at the center on the following dates and times may be a close contact of the infected person: Friday, Aug. 21, 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 22, 6:30-10 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 23, 2-7 p.m.; Monday, Aug. 24, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Tuesday, Aug. 25, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Overall, White said 37 students, including the student athletes, are in quarantine. Six students have tested positive for the virus.
Contact Editor Rod Boyce at 459-7585. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMeditor.
