**UPDATE** UNC Athletics announced over the weekend that teams will resume athletic activities in the coming days.

Men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball will resume activities on Sunday. Meanwhile, football has opted to return to practice on Monday.

Other winter and spring sports will continue to pause athletic activities.

UNC announced on Wednesday that it is temporarily suspending all athletics activities for all sports teams due to the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

“After consulting with our health experts and University leadership, we are taking this action to protect our students, coaches and staff,” said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham in a release. “We want to make sure we continue to do everything we can to ensure that that our teams, campus and community remain healthy.”

Carolina’s suspension of athletics was extended again on Friday through Saturday, August 22.

This comes after the university reversed course and moved all undergraduate courses online for the remainder of the fall semester. Last week, 130 students tested positive for coronavirus and four clusters were identified around campus. Overall, UNC has reported 324 cumulative cases on campus — 279 students, 45 employees— since testing first began earlier this year.

During the suspension, student-athletes will continue to have access to academic support, student-athlete development, medical care and nutrition.

UNC football head coach Mack Brown spoke to the media on Tuesday and said UNC’s decision to move undergraduate classes online doesn’t affect his team significantly given that many of his players are taking online courses anyways.

With students off campus, Brown said that they could more effectively “bubble” the team. He referenced the current bubble that the NBA is playing in right now and said it would take a three-month commitment to make the college football season work.

Featured image via Mike Jones/UNC Athletics

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