Fans attending indoor sporting events at the University of Maine will no longer be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, Athletic Director Ken Ralph said Monday.

Ken Ralph

The policy had been in effect during the last school year for games at Alfond Arena and Memorial Gym in Orono, and Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

“People don’t need to bring their (vaccination) cards or show their phones at the door. But the university will be monitoring local conditions and will adjust if necessary,” Ralph said.

COVID-19 protocols affecting student-athletes also have been updated heading into the new school year, Ralph said, reflecting the most recent guidelines from the CDC.

Like all students and faculty at the University of Maine, Black Bear athletes are still required to be vaccinated in order to take part in activities on the Orono campus. Athletes have been encouraged to get booster shots, Ralph said.

Some athletes have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since returning to campus for training camps leading into the fall sports season, but those cases have caused no disruptions to practices, Ralph said.

“Fortunately, the spread has been minimal,” said Ralph, who did not specify the number of athletes who have tested positive.

It’s unclear how many students on the Orono campus may have COVID ahead of the start of classes for the fall semester on Aug. 29. Schools in the University of Maine System no longer compile COVID-19 case counts for the UMS online dashboard, according to spokesperson Margaret Nagle.

Tyson McHatten, the Senior Associate Director of Athletics-External Operations and Communications, confirmed there are cases among the UMaine football team, but not enough to prevent the team from practicing on Monday. An intrasquad scrimmage that had been scheduled for Monday afternoon was pushed back to Tuesday after an earlier scrimmage scheduled for last Wednesday was pushed back a day because of rain, McHatten said.

Athletes who do come down with COVID-19 are required to follow the latest federal CDC guidance, which includes isolating for five days if symptom-free. Those who exhibit symptoms can end isolation after five days if they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and if their symptoms are improving. Vaccinated athletes who are close contacts are not required to isolate if they show no symptoms of illness.

Under the new guidance, Ralph said it’s less likely games would need to be postponed or canceled, as was the case a few times during the 2021-22 season. For example, Maine’s women’s basketball team played two games over the weekend of Feb. 4-6 at Binghamton rather than a traditional home-and-home after a game earlier in the season against the Bearcats was postponed because of COVID. The men’s ice hockey team’s two-game series at Penn State scheduled for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 was canceled after an outbreak within the team upon returning from the holiday break.

“The rules have changed in how you designate close contacts and what the quarantine rules are. They’re still very strict, but we’re hopeful we’re past the point we would lose entire position groups or lose too many athletes for games not to be viable,” said Ralph, who will leave UMaine at the end of the month to become the athletic director at Southwestern University in Texas

“That’s not a guarantee. If we see a new variant pop up or we see more high transmissibility of current variants, (that could change). Right now we feel pretty good we’ll be able to play games as scheduled.

“I think everybody’s learned a lot about the virus and how to manage it, how to keep themselves safer. We can’t let our guard down.”