Pac-12 statement on Stanford COVID-19 testing errors

The Pac-12 has officially released a statement regarding last week’s test results that came in for the Stanford Cardinal ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Oregon Ducks.

Starting quarterback Davis Mills was forced to miss the game due to what, at the time, was considered a positive test result for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. It turns out that the test result was a false positive, and as late as Thursday, Mills was still being quarantined despite the results.

The Pac-12 issued the following statement:

“During Pac-12 game day testing this past Saturday, there were testing protocol errors with respect to a Stanford student-athlete who tested positive for COVID-19. The student-athlete and others who were immediately identified as individuals who would be high-risk contacts if the student-athlete were positive did not play in the game, in accordance with Pac-12 protocols, and the student-athletes were immediately isolated. Upon return to campus, Stanford, in communication with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee, administered a daily PCR diagnostic testing cadence that has consistently show that the student-athlete does not have COVID-19 and is thus cleared to resume practice and competition. The Pac-12 medical group has reviewed and supports the decision. We apologize to the Stanford football team and its supporters, and especially to the student-athletes who were held out of the game as a result of the testing protocol errors. We are working with our game day testing partner to ensure this type of error does not occur in the future.”

Bad for the Pac-12 — apparently good for Oregon, who got to escape seeing arguably one of the Pac-12’s best quarterbacks and were instead allowed to face a backup quarterback situation who did not actively participate in a week’s worth of practices as the starter, and did not know he would be starting an away game until about an hour or so ahead of the game.

At least we have Davis Mills and Connor Wedington back for this week’s game against Colorado.