Despite a mostly calm summer, a new massive surge of COVID-19 has struck the United States and has begun to put a damper on the reopening of schools and school sports countrywide.

Recently, the US has started to see a huge spike in new coronavirus cases, breaking records. For several days now, the country has seen 100,000+ cases in a single day, and that number continues to rise.

At John Carroll, the virus has now become a serious issue.

Recently, the school has started to see its own number of coronavirus cases.

An email from President Steve DiBiagio was sent out on November 11, 2020 near the end of the school day.   The email included that three athletic teams were in quarantine.

In addition to the news that JC would be transitioning into 100% distance learning until at least Thanksgiving, effective immediately, all athletic programs and activities would be suspended at John Carroll until further notice.

The fall sports season at John Carroll had already been changed drastically to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Many teams had to have shortened seasons, and they had drastically changed their practices.

For example, the men’s cross country team, who normally has closer to 10 meets in one season, had to reduce the number of meets they had to just four. This was due to the fact that a decision was not made on meets until so late in the season.

Had it been a normal season, the cross country team would have had its championship meet just a week ago.

Other changes for teams included mask-wearing and filling out required forms.

Now, however, none of this seems necessary as the fall sports have been put on pause for at least two weeks.

When it comes to winter sports and spring sports, it’s anyone’s guess as to what may happen. It truly is all dependent on how we manage to get through this pandemic.