IOWA CITY, Iowa - The COVID-19 stricken Iowa Hawkeyes are headed to the state with the country's biggest pandemic outbreak for their bowl game.
The football team paused all activities this week because of an outbreak of positive tests, which includes Head Coach Kirk Ferentz.
Their bowl game scheduled for next Wednesday takes place in Tennessee, which currently ranks No. 1 on the New York Times COVID-19 tracker for new cases in the past seven days.
The state also has seven of the top 20 metro areas with the greatest number of new cases, and Governor Bill Lee has said Tennessee "is ground zero for a surge in sickness."
Lee's wife has also tested positive for the virus, and people with severe Covid-19 have put a critical strain on the state's hospitals.
No state has more total new cases than California, but adjusted for population, Tennessee's outbreak is worse.
By comparison, Iowa's mid-November pandemic surge has subsided, although the state currently ranks 20th out of 28 states where positive cases are high and getting higher.
The Hawkeyes are scheduled to play Missouri at the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee next Wednesday, December 30th.