Ontario University Athletics (OUA), announced Friday, Dec. 17 that it was immediately pausing all varsity sport due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

With this pause, all OUA programming including scrimmages, exhibition games, tournaments, league competition and championships — originally scheduled to start back up in the first week of January — will resume no earlier than Monday, Jan. 24.

The OUA said its board made the decision in an effort to better allow universities to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student-life programming and allow for student-athletes to have sufficient time to properly train and prepare for the winter championship stretch run.

The OUA will continue to monitor the situation and will be prepared to extend the pause beyond Jan. 24 if necessary.

Brock University announced Thursday, Dec. 16 it was taking a number of measures to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, including moving to online course delivery for the beginning of the Winter Term to enable students, staff and faculty to receive their booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. On-campus classes are planned to resume on Monday, Jan. 31.

Most Brock University varsity student-athletes will complete their training for this year by Saturday, Dec. 18, prior to the holiday season. To assist in mitigating the spread of the new variant, Brock Sports will resume in-person training for winter sports no earlier than Tuesday, Jan. 4. Off-season fall sports will return to train no earlier than Monday, Jan. 10.

In addition, Brock sports is ramping up its rapid antigen testing program with all student-athletes being required to provide proof of two negative tests prior to starting in-person training.

All student athletes, coaches and staff are also encouraged to book their COVID-19 booster dose as soon as possible using Ontario’s Booking Portal.