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Uintah High’s football season ends after outbreak of COVID-19 among players

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Another COVID-19 outbreak, this one at Uintah High School in Vernal, has ended the Utes' football season. Because players and coaches have been forced to quarantine, the team had to forfeit its first-round state tournament game against Mountain View.

A second high school football program’s season has ended due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among its players.

The Uintah Utes on Tuesday learned they will not compete in the upcoming 4A state championship tournament after the team “met the criteria for a COVID-19 outbreak,” Geoff Liesik, Uintah School District spokesperson, said in a statement. Three cases were confirmed within a 14-day period, which prompts an automatic quarantine.

Liesik said Uintah players and coaches have been quarantining since last Tuesday “because players and coaches had prolonged, close contact during an Oct. 12 team meeting with an individual who later tested positive for COVID-19. Masks were not worn during the meeting.”

The two-week quarantine forces the Utes to forfeit their first round game against Mountain View that was scheduled for Friday. Because the tournament’s rounds need a winner to advance, games cannot be rescheduled.

The news comes just one day after the same fate befell Fremont High School’s football team after multiple players tested positive for the coronavirus.

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