BERKELEY (CBS SF) – The Cal football program has postponed this weekend’s game between the Golden Bears and USC Trojans at Memorial Stadium due to a “major outbreak” of COVID-19 cases.
Berkeley’s Department of Health confirmed 44 cases of coronavirus and said it is working closely with university health officials to “contain a major COVID-19 outbreak involving coaches, students and staff in the Cal Football program.”
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“Postponing this game was a last resort and not an action any of us wanted to take, however it was not possible for us to field a team on Saturday,” Head Coach Justin Wilcox said.
Jim Knowlton, the university’s director of athletics, said “We know how important every one of our games is to our student-athletes, especially our seniors who have been incredible representatives of the program, but it was the right thing to do.”
“We have had multiple COVID-19 positives within our program, and we are taking every step we can to mitigate the spread and protect the greater community,” Knowlton went on to say.
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Last week, several players entered COVID-19 protocols and were unable to play last week against Arizona. The team has previously said that everyone in the football program is compliant with the university’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements and that more than 99% of the team is fully vaccinated.
In an updated statement Tuesday afternoon, the university said the game has been rescheduled to December 4. A kickoff time has not been announced.
“Cal contacted USC about rescheduling the game and the two schools agreed on the new date. The Pac-12 approved the decision to reschedule the game,” the team said.
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The Golden Bears are next scheduled to play Stanford in the 124th edition of the Big Game on November 20.
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.