Notre Dame elects to pause practice at least one day amid school's rise in positive COVID-19 tests

ByADAM RITTENBERG
August 19, 2020, 3:39 PM

Notre Dame's football team will not practice Wednesday and possibly not Thursday after the university shifted to remote instruction through at least Sept. 2.

The university on Tuesday suspended in-person instruction after a rise in positive tests for COVID-19. Notre Dame has reported 222 confirmed cases out of 1,287 tests since Aug. 3, with 72 new positive tests Tuesday and 82 on Monday. The football team reported two positive tests out of 117 during its last update Aug. 10. The team will continue to make testing results public as they become available.

Notre Dame is not sending students home but has imposed restrictions on their activity, including access to dormitories and major gathering places on campus.

"Our contact-tracing analysis indicates that most infections are coming from off-campus gatherings," university president the Rev. John Jenkins said Tuesday.

"Students infected at those gathering passed it on to others, who in turn have passed the virus on to others, resulting in the positive cases we have seen."