A Colorado college student-athlete has been subject to quarantine and is no longer allowed to compete in a championship after a housemate received a false positive on a coronavirus test.
Sophie Collins, a senior at the Colorado School of Mines, shared a video on Twitter that she was no longer allowed to compete Friday at the National Indoor Championship for Track and Field in Alabama. One of her roommates had received a positive on a PCR test — it was later found to be a false positive.
“I do not feel that my voice or the situation have been addressed earnestly. This is my last attempt to bring forth the facts and my opinion surrounding this situation hoping for fair consideration,” Collins shared in a tweet.
I do not feel that my voice or the situation have been addressed earnestly. This is my last attempt to bring forth the facts and my opinion surrounding this situation hoping for fair consideration. @NCAADII @MinesAthletics @coschoolofmines pic.twitter.com/bk2cID4qrE
— Soph (@sophie_joyyyy) March 11, 2021
“One of my housemates, who I don’t share a bathroom with, I haven’t had contact with — close contact with — the entire semester, got a positive test result from a PCR test that she had on Friday,” Collins shared. “Since then, she’s had three other negative tests, including an antibodies test, proving that she still has antibodies to the virus.” (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Sued By Two High School Football Players Who Want To Play Again)
“I have also had a negative test as well. The school is unwilling to re-test her sample and come to the conclusion that it was a false positive,” she continued. “It is not the NCAA keeping me from competing in Alabama this weekend, it is the Mines Administration.”
— Soph (@sophie_joyyyy) March 11, 2021
“I know that my coach stands with me and is frustrated about the situation and he has fought for me to be able to compete, and so has the athletic director,” Collins told the Daily Caller.
“They’ve brought the situation to the president of the school, who ultimately made the decision not to allow me to compete,” she said. “Basically, they’re choosing to comply to certain regulations set by the county and by the CDC, and those are being enforced by our Mines COVID Response Initiative Team.”
Collins told the Daily Caller she thought she hadn’t received “an actual explanation,” from her university as to why she was not allowed to compete. Her university’s president informed her via email that the administration “could not come up with a defensible reason to change” her “quarantine requirement,” and that they understood “it was a disappointing outcome.”
Collins, who is currently ranked as seventh in the nation for long jump, explained that if she placed seventh at the meet, she would be “considered an all-American athlete.”
“That’s just one of the things that was taken away from me. There’s a lot that I think I lost because of this,” she shared. “At the end of the day, I would really want action and change to happen with the Mines Administration, and the ways that they approach these situations.”
The Daily Caller reached out to the Colorado School of Mines for comment and did not receive a response.
