Managing the Return to Football During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of the Head Team Physicians of the Football Bowl Subdivision Programs

Slabaugh, Alexander D.; Belk, John W.; Jackson, Jonathan C.; Robins, Richard J.; McCarty, Eric C.; LeClere, Lance E.; Slabaugh, Mark A.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a severe respiratory virus that spreads via person-to-person contact through respiratory droplets. Since being declared a pandemic in early March 2020, the World Health Organization had yet to release guidelines regarding the return of college or professional sports for the 2020-2021 season. PURPOSE: To survey the head orthopedic surgeons and primary care team physicians for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football teams so as to gauge the management of common COVID-19 issues for the fall 2020 college football season. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: The head team orthopaedic surgeons and primary care physicians for all 130 FBS football teams were surveyed regarding their opinions on the management of college football during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 30 questions regarding testing, return-to-play protocol, isolating athletes, and other management issues were posed via email survey sent on June 5, 2020. RESULTS: Of the 210 team physicians surveyed, 103 (49%) completed the questionnaire. Overall, 36.9% of respondents felt that it was unsafe for college athletes to return to playing football during fall 2020. While the majority of football programs (96.1%) were testing athletes for COVID-19 as they returned to campus, only 78.6% of programs required athletes to undergo a mandatory quarantine period before resuming involvement in athletic department activities. Of the programs that were quarantining their players upon return to campus, 20% did so for 1 week, 20% for 2 weeks, and 32.9% quarantined their athletes until they had a negative COVID-19 test. CONCLUSION: While US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines evolve and geographic regions experience a range of COVID-19 infections, determining a universal strategy for return to socialization and participation in sports remains a challenge. The current study highlighted areas of consensus and strong agreement, but the results also demonstrated a need for clarity and consistency in operations, leadership, and guidance for medical professionals in multiple areas as they attempt to safely mitigate risk for college football players amid the COVID-19 pandemic.