Men's hoops paused, Bonaventure game postponed due to positive COVID-19 test among staff

It's been a weird and tough year for everyone, Colonials basketball included, and today the university announced that the men's basketball program will be "on pause" due to a positive coronavirus test by a "tier 1 staff member" -- which according to NCAA guidelines means folks who would have the most exposure, for whom physical distancing and masks are not possible or effective, such as "student-athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and physical therapists, medical staff, equipment staff and officials." The announcement seems to imply that it's not a player.

GW was supposed to travel to beautiful Olean, New York for tomorrow's game against St. Bonaventure, which they now won't be doing.

The GW announcement says that all Tier 1 personally are getting tested and contact tracing is underway, and "all program activity" such as practices will be paused. The other tiers are folks who have lower exposure - tier 2 would be people who have less exposure can wear masks like athletic department staff and operational staff, and Tier 3 is the lowest level, people like services staff who don't come into contact with Tier 1 such as housekeeping, catering, media staff and so on.

It's not known what will happen next, but I hope whoever tested positive feels better soon and it doesn't spread. My thoughts are with the team, the staff and the athletic department. I hope everybody stays safe and healthy.

The team was already having a rough week, with Wednesday's home game against UMass postponed due to the Trump-fueled mob assault on the Capitol and a DC-wide curfew in response.