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Football practice at DeLand High School is on hold for two weeks after an assistant coach tested positive for COVID-19.
DeLand High School Athletics Director Lance Jenkins said the school is following the Volusia County Schools health guidelines, and quarantining anyone who may have been exposed, including other coaches and students, for two weeks.
“A limited number of athletes have been removed from campus and are now going to school virtually,” Jenkins said. “They’ll be back on the 16th.”
The assistant coach contacted DeLand High Coach Steve Allen on Wednesday morning, and Allen said the news initially took him by surprise.
“When he said it, it took a few seconds to realize all of the ramifications of what I had heard,” Allen said.
Still, Allen is optimistic that DeLand High will get through this challenge as they have everything else.
“I take what I do very seriously, and I’m blessed to do it,” Allen said. “But at the end of the day, it’s still football and we’re talking about people’s livelihood and health, and some things are just more important.”
This will push back the DeLand Bulldogs’ first game of the season, which would have been Sept. 18, against Seminole High School. The team will now begin its 2020-21 football season Sept. 25, with a game against the Deltona High School Wolves.
Volusia County Schools has begun reporting positive COVID-19 cases online.
As of Sept. 2, the school system confirmed two cases of COVID-19 among students, and six among faculty members. The affected schools listed were Creekside Middle School in Port Orange, DeLand Middle School and Port Orange Elementary.