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GATESVILLE – The Gates County High School football team faced an opponent last week that wasn’t on the schedule.

Some members of the team are currently in quarantine after a positive test for COVID-19 surfaced within the football program on Thursday of last week.

That positive test resulted in the immediate cancellation of last Friday’s (Sept. 3) home contest vs. Manteo High School. This Friday’s (Sept. 10) scheduled game at Camden County is also canceled.

“The entire team is not quarantined,” stated Dr. Barry Williams, Superintendent of Gates County Public Schools. “Following the StrongSchools NC Public Health Toolkit (K-12), each player and coaches’ individual vaccine status and mask status was examined to determine who had to be quarantined and who did not, along with the length of the quarantine.”

Williams added that the length of the quarantine is based on individual circumstances as defined in the Toolkit and is not the same for all.

“Quarantine length takes into account the details of the exposure, vaccine status, if symptoms are present, and COVID-19 testing status,” Dr. Williams explained.

“We hope to resume practice as soon as possible. The resumption will be based on COVID-19 testing with negative results,” he stated.

For those student-athletes having to quarantine, Williams said they will continue with their studies with assignments provided through Google Classroom and Canvas.