COVID-19 didn't appear to spread efficiently within and among teams competing in the fall 2020 Southeastern Conference (SEC) college football season, finds an observational study published late last week in JAMA Network Open.The study, led by a Texas A&M University researcher, analyzed close contacts (within 6 feet) among opposing players during official games and COVID-19 athlete testing data from Sep 26 to Dec 19, 2020.At that time, cases were surging, but the more transmissible Delta (B1617.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant had not yet been identified in the United States.
This may limit the findings' generalizability to pandemic phases since the emergence of Delta.Most opposing-player contacts were fleetingOver 64 SEC outdoor games, 1,190 college