Players at UCF, FSU have virus

Gators have zero, but call COVID-19 spread inevitable.

Three UCF football players tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to campus for voluntary workouts last week.

The three Knights players, who were part of a group of an initial group of 60 players allowed back on campus for workouts, are in isolation for two weeks. They’ll be monitored daily through wellness checks and receive contactless meal deliveries.

The cases have been reported to the Orange County Health Department.

“Our top priority is to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes,” UCF athletics director Danny White said in a statement. “We will do everything necessary to support the student-athletes under our care on campus.

“Our plan and protocols are working. We will continue working through our medical processes, as this initial testing phase allows us to respond appropriately.”

The players are being monitored by

UCF’s medical team, which is led by Dr. Michael V. Jablonski, who is the medical director of UCF athletics and president of Jewett Orthopedic Clinic Orlando Health, and Mary Vander Heiden, who is the director of sports medicine at UCF.

“These results are not surprising given the number of tests that were performed and the different areas and regions these players are coming from,” Jablonski said. “It confirms the importance of the protocols that have been established through the work of multiple medical experts.”

The three players will not participate in workouts until the two week quarantine period ends and they are retested and test negative.

UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton tested negative for COVID-19 in May after a health scare. Milton, who was among the players recovering from injuries who were allowed to keep working with UCF athletic trainers during the coronavirus shutdown, told

ESPN he got tested after he developed a sore throat and fever.

“I would have felt bad if I was around people and was sick and the possibility of our physical therapy having to get quarantined because of me,” Milton told ESPN.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL Three UCF football players tested positive for COVID-19 as they returned to campus for individual voluntary workouts. School officials say the positive tests and isolation of players with the virus show the program’s safety protocols are working properly.