STORRS – Fears of eastern equine encephalitis have played havoc with high school football schedules for the past couple of weeks. Now those concerns have graduated to college.
The University of Connecticut has changed the time for Saturday’s football game against USF to 12 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The game had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m., but UConn changed kickoff to midday because of concerns about the mosquito-transmitted virus that causes eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). Two Connecticut residents have died of EEE this year.
Mosquitos are most active beginning at dusk each evening and through the night until dawn. To help minimize exposure to mosquitos, the university said it is “recommending to all units that outdoor activities and events scheduled to take place anytime between dusk and dawn be rescheduled to another time during the day, if possible, for the time being.”
“Though the risk is low, as a precaution, we want to take any reasonable steps we can to help reduce the exposure of student-athletes, staff and the public to this illness,” said UConn President Thomas Katsouleas. “I want to thank the conference, USF and our own division of athletics for their flexibility.”
The CBS Sports Network (CBSSN) was slated to carry the Huskies‘ game on TV. UConn says they will announce coverage plans later this week.
Fans who will be unable to attend Saturday’s game due to the time change are welcome to exchange their ticket for one of UConn’s three remaining home games. For more information call the UConn Ticket Office at 1-877-AT-UCONN (288-2666), Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Mosquito activity continues until the first hard frost of the fall, which typically happens in October. On Friday, a bipartisan group of legislators sent a letter to Governor Lamont asking him to consider aerial spraying for some areas.
For more information on the EEE virus, visit https://portal.ct.gov/mosquito.