Florida halts team activities as 19 Gators test positive for COVID
GAINESVILLE, FLA. » No. 10 Florida paused all team activities Tuesday following “an increase in positive COVID tests among players,” putting Saturday’s home game against defending national champion LSU in jeopardy.
The Gators had 19 positives following Tuesday morning testing, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press.
Athletic director Scott Stricklin said the decision to halt meetings and practices was made “out of an abundance of caution.” Stricklin added that coach Dan Mullen has spoken with players and parents and that he told last week’s opponent, Texas A&M, and Saturday’s opponent, the Tigers.
Stricklin said the situation “will be re-evaluated by UF Health and the athletic department’s sports medicine staff Wednesday.”
The shutdown came three days after Mullen’s eyebrow-raising comments about wanting 90,000 fans at Florida Field to create a better home-field advantage against the Tigers. Mullen didn’t double down Monday, but he didn’t back down, either. He brushed aside criticism and praised his players for how well they have handled COVID safety protocols.
“I think if you look at what we’ve been able to do, the safety precautions we have that our players have followed, our coaches follow, our staff follows, you know, I think we’re a model of safety of what we’ve been doing during this time period,” Mullen said.
“So I’m really proud of how we’ve handled everything and how safe we’ve been with everything we’re doing and all the precautions we’ve had in place during this time.”
Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork said the Aggies have reviewed contact tracing data deployed by the conference and found nothing yet.
“At this point, there has been no impact within our football program, but we will continue our regular testing regiment this week and stay diligent with all of our safety protocols,” Bjork said in a statement.
The SEC already has postponed one game this week: Vanderbilt and Missouri was tentatively pushed to Dec. 12 because CO
VID-19 issues have left the Commodores without enough players.
Florida reported five new CO
VID-19 positives earlier Tuesday, but those results stemmed from last week’s tests. The Gators test student-athletes three times a week, with football players getting tested Sunday at noon as well as Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Pac-12 may be back, but not all the revenue will be
The return of football isn’t likely
to make a dramatic dent in the losses athletic departments across the Pac-12 will ultimately incur because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Faced with large budget shortfalls, most schools have already resorted to layoffs, furloughs, and cutting some sports entirely.
Arizona athletic director David Heeke insisted discussions to restart athletics centered around athletes, and not budgets. “Without fans, there is a tremendous challenge. We’re glad to be playing, glad to have the opportunity, but we are still significantly short on revenue and that’s going to be a challenge for us going forward as an organization,” Heeke said.