The inside story on how Alabama’s coach was cleared just days after receiving a positive test result.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — About a month ago, some 600 miles west of here, a Texas A&M soccer player registered positive for COVID-19 during a routine PCR test conducted by the SEC.

Convinced she did nothing to put herself at risk, the player sought her own test from the student health center on the College Station campus. The result returned negative. Over the next few days, the school tested the player three more times, producing all negative results.

The soccer player was cleared by the SEC office and then, days later on Oct. 3, the conference’s COVID task force drafted a new item to its 34-page medical guidance policy to address false positive tests. The new 151-word policy, titled “Considerations for Handling Asymptomatic PCR Positive Tests,” would allow an asymptomatic person who tested positive to