‘It’s ridiculous’ Cal gets game against Washington canceled due to one COVID-19 case

The situation in the Pac-12 is getting more embarrassing by the day.

The same conference that shut down its season all while several major conferences continued to play football as scheduled had one of its six games canceled for its debut week.

The Cal vs. Washington game was canceled due to — get this – one, yes one – positive COVID-19 test. The positive test is on the defensive line according to Jon Wilner, and resulted in the whole position group being quarantined.

Wilner says that the Berkeley Department of Health called for the game’s cancelation due to quarantine rules involving those who are part of contact tracing.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox said Thursday that the other players tested negative but the health department still won’t allow them to play.

“It’s ridiculous,” a conference source told Wilner. “They did everything possible protocol-wise to avoid this exact situation (position group quarantined) and then were told what they did was not enough.”

Ridiculous is the completely correct term for this nonsense. You cancel an entire game over one positive COVID case, even though those involved in contact tracing tested negative? Across the Bay, the 49ers were able to play in Santa Clara on Thursday night despite having multiple players on the COVID list.

Berkeley’s policy is unnecessarily extreme and every bit as bad as the Big Ten’s unbelievable 21-day absence policy following a positive COVID-19 test. The Pac-12 is doing lasting damage to its already suffering football brand.