Taggart: 27 positive COVID tests for Owls
FAU coachWillie Taggart said Monday that 18 players and nine staff members tested positive for COVID-19 last week, and 38 members of the football program would’ve missed Saturday’s matchup against Southern Miss, which led to the game’s postponement.
The game was postponed last Thursday evening, andwas FAU’s sixth delayed/canceled game of the season because of reasons related to the novel coronavirus — including its first four on the schedule.
“I’m a realist,” Taggart said. “I understand we’re in a pandemic and there are some things out of your control. The last time it happened, I thought the guys responded well. We just got to be more diligent when it comes to protecting ourselves and doing what’s right to look out for each other.”
The Owls have had other COVID-19 outbreaks this season, but none this large.
They paused practices in August after threemembersof the program tested positive for the coronavirus.
Eighteen members of the program tested positive for COVID-19 the week leading up to FAU’s game against Georgia Southern scheduled for Sept. 19, with Taggart telling reporters at the time “around 25” individuals wouldn’t have been available for the matchup against the Eagles.
Although last week was the worst COVID-19 outbreak the team has experienced, Taggart said members of the program are following the protocols well and that the team needs to control the things it can — including wearing masks and social distancing.
“I know we’re educating our guys daily. We talk to them and have protocols in place,” Taggart said. “It’s a pandemic. We don’t know how someone gets it. It’s tough to pinpoint exactly where it is. Ourguyshavebeendoing agood job, but this past week it was an outbreakwe’ve never had before.
“Wehave tocontinue to reevaluate the thingswe’re doing, andlean onourdoctors, administrationand myself to make sure we do things in the best interests of our players and staff.”
Taggart added that the players’ response to the situation has been “great”.
“I know they’re disappointed and want to play,” he said. “We got to continue to do a great job of trying to mitigate this.”
The Owls are on a bye week, with their next scheduled game against Marshall on Oct. 24 in Huntington, W.Va.
The lone game FAU has played this season came on Oct. 3— a 21-17 victory over Charlotte at FAUStadium— which means it’ll be threeweeks since it last played another team by the time it plays the ThunderingHerd.
“It’s going to be a difficult and challenging year,” Taggart said. “It’s something we never had to do before. You got to find away to get yourteamreadyandget going.”