Controversy emerges over Golden Bears' COVID saga

COVID-19 has hit the Cal football program in a big way – and at the worst time of the season. The Golden Bears were without 24 players and five coaches for last Saturday’s game against Arizona, and there’s a good chance that many of them won’t be back for this week’s game either.

According to independent Cal reporter Avinash Kunnath, sources confirmed to him that if a Golden Bears’ player or coach tests positive for COVID, they then have to isolate for 10 days – even if the person is vaccinated or has had subsequent negative tests. Kunnath mentioned that while there were some subsequent negative tests this past week, those players and coaches still weren’t permitted to travel with Cal to its game at Arizona.

Of the 24 players who missed the Arizona game, a 10-3 loss for the Golden Bears that snapped a two-game winning streak, one of them was Cal starting quarterback Chase Garbers, who had thrown for nearly 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns coming into last weekend. With him sidelined, Cal started backup Ryan Glover and he struggled – completing just 11 of 29 passes for 94 yards while the Golden Bears’ offense tallied only 122 yards.

In another tweet posted by Kunnath, he said that he expects “most Cal players who tested positive to play” against USC this week, but added that “they might not practice most of the week.” It would certainly help the Golden Bears’ chances of winning if they have their players back, especially Garbers, but they would be pretty rusty after not playing or practicing for two weeks.

Cal makes public COVID-19 protocol announcement last Thursday

Cal’s first public announcement regarding players being in COVID-19 protocol came last Thursday, but the school didn’t provide any details regarding the situation – other than Golden Bears’ head coach Justin Wilcox saying that he had some players that began to feel unwell on Monday.

“Our primary concern is for the health of our student-athletes, and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton said in a statement.

“As we know, this pandemic is not over. We need to respect it and understand that it can affect much of what we do every day. Even with 99 percent of our football student-athletes fully vaccinated, we have seen that breakthrough cases are still possible.”

Many of the players that missed Saturday’s game at Arizona were asymptomatic. Cal – which reported that their team is 99% vaccinated – said all players that made the trip were tested and cleared to travel.

Now 3-6 on the season and 2-4 in Pac-12 play, Cal will look to bounce back Saturday against USC at California Memorial Stadium.