Ohio State Resumes Voluntary Workouts After Coronavirus Pause

About a week after Ohio State put a pause on its athletic department’s voluntary workouts, the school announced it had resumed practices and workouts earlier this week.

John Taylor of College Football Talk reported on Tuesday that the Buckeyes are back to prepping for whatever the 2020 season might hold.

On July 8, the school announced it was putting a halt on all athletic activities as a result of its “most recent COVID-19 testing of student-athletes.” Ohio State didn’t say what exactly the results had been or how many athletes or staff members tested positive.

This week, the athletic department announced that all of its student-athletes can get back to practicing and working out as they see fit. It added that “[a]ll student-athletes from the seven sports that returned last month to voluntary workouts were tested Monday, and the results were received today. The last round of testing was July 7 resulting in the suspension July 8.”

The school didn’t provide any specifics on what caused the pause, or if the return to duties meant that everyone had checked out as virus-free. It also didn’t say if there were any Ohio State athletes that might be held back for a few more days or weeks to make sure they had fully recovered.

As has been the case since their official pause, the school cited the lack of details as being due to medical privacy laws.

“Our Buckeyes are excited to be headed into a new school year and were disappointed last week when we had to temporarily suspend training,” OSU athletic director Gene Smith said in a statement. “These young people come from across the nation and the world to be part of our Ohio State family, and we do everything we can to create a safe, healthy environment so that they have a chance to study and compete.”

Smith added Ohio State’s medical team was going to continue to monitor and evaluate as the school moves forward.

Ohio State is the latest school to return to action after taking a short pause. Earlier this week, Kansas State resumed its voluntary workouts after a roughly 10-day pause after its administration reportedly received troubling results about coronavirus tests for its student-athletes.

Another Big Ten school that put a hold on its workouts and practices is still holding off returning to action. The Maryland Terrapins decided to temporarily shut things down the same week Ohio State made its announcement but so far has not decided it’s safe enough to resume activities.