3 NIU sports teams under quarantine due to virus

DeKALB - Three Northern Illinois University sports teams are now under quarantine due to the novel coronavirus: the NIU football, men's basketball and men's golf teams, according to a release by the school on Friday.

"This step has been taken proactively in cooperation with the DeKalb County Health Department after weekly surveillance testing indicated COVID-19 positive cases among individuals in these three programs," the release said.

Surveillance testing results for this week have not been released. But on Friday the school announced 18 new cases among students, the highest single-day total in two weeks.

On September 11, NIU announced that all undergraduate classes were transitioning to meet online and students were urged to limit in-person activities until Monday, Sept. 28. At that time, NIU Athletics suspended organized team practices for all 17 of its programs, according to the release.

"Today's measures are intended to limit potential transmission of the virus by further limiting in-person contact by the student-athletes on these three teams," the release said.

A spokesperson said the quarantine would be for 14 days from the first sign of symptoms, if that was earlier than the positive test. For most students, she said, the 14 days would start Friday.