The latest outbreak of the novel coronavirus around the Big 12 just occurred with the next Texas football opponent, the Baylor Bears.
We’re in the midst of a very different college football season as the novel coronavirus pandemic stems on around the country and the globe. And while the Texas football program has yet to see any of their games pushed back this year due to COVID-19 related issues, a few of their Big 12 and in-state foes have.
Maybe the most notable of the Big 12 programs that had a lot pushed back already due to COVID-19 related issues is the Baylor Bears. It appears that Baylor is now dealing with a pretty massive outbreak of COVID-19 in their program following their trip to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers two weeks ago.
Baylor now reportedly has more than 30 active cases that they’re dealing with, and 40 that they’re monitoring across the board. They already had their Oct. 17 showdown at home against the No. 7 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys postponed due to this COVID-19 outbreak, and it’s not all that long before they’re set to take on the Longhorns.
Baylor suspects it could have had 1 or 2 false negative tests on the trip to Morgantown and it became a superspreader event. Now, 42 people have COVID.
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) October 12, 2020
That's how contagious this is. Wear a mask. Socially distance. Stay home if you can. Take it seriously.
It sounds like all this took for Baylor to undergo this massive outbreak of COVID-19 was a few false negative tests that head coach Dave Aranda and his program had ahead of the trip to West Virginia for a game back on Oct. 3. After that trip to Morgantown, the potency of the spread of COVID-19 showed itself with the raw amount of cases that Baylor is dealing with now.
#Baylor announces 29 new cases of COVID-19 in athletics since last Monday. The Bears shut down practice through this Saturday and postponed their game against #OkState due to COVID-19 guidelines in the Big 12 #Big12FB pic.twitter.com/jENlEniddP
— Kurtis Quillin (@KurtisQuillin) October 12, 2020
In total, the Baylor athletic department is reportedly dealing with 132 positive cases since June 1. That is the total number of cases from multiple sports. And the entire Baylor athletic department is reportedly dealing with more than 40 positive cases at the moment.
Baylor expected to release updated data later today, but here’s the number. 28 football players + 14 football staffers. https://t.co/cvRwzzicjY
— Max Olson (@max_olson) October 12, 2020
Baylor is reportedly expected to release updated numbers as the week moves along as they continue to deal with this COVID-19 outbreak. It is definitely something worth monitoring as the Longhorns are their next game up on the schedule this fall.
Texas and Baylor are set to square off on Oct. 24 in the afternoon slate at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This is obviously a key storyline to watch before Baylor is able to face Texas at DKR in a little more than 10 days. Aranda’s squad currently holds a record of 1-1 (1-1 Big 12), while Texas holds a record of 2-2 (1-2 Big 12) following their Oct. 10 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.