Florida announces 25 Gators football players tested positive for COVID-19

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - We now know the extent of Florida football’s COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the University of Athletic Association, 25 football players have tested positive for the virus since last Tuesday, 31 players have tested positive in the month of October.

These numbers do not include any staff members that have tested positive. As of Tuesday, two assistant coaches and Gators head coach Dan Mullen have tested positive as well.

New #Gators COVID-19 testing numbers reveal 25 football players tested positive last week.

31 players tested positive in the month of October. pic.twitter.com/qk0tBxX22X
— Jacquie Franciulli (@JacquieFran_) October 20, 2020

In his press conference last Wednesday, UF athletic director Scott Stricklin told reporters that 21 players, including three walk-ons, had tested positive by Wednesday. This means that Florida has had four more players test positive since then.

According to Stricklin, they have not pin pointed the exact starting point of the outbreak, however, said that a few players had ‘allergy-like’ symptoms prior to Florida’s game against Texas A&M.

After contact tracing, Florida did not have 50 scholarship players available and was forced to postpone games against LSU and Missouri. The Missouri game will now be played on Halloween, while the LSU game has been pushed back until Dec.12.

“You look around at other football programs around the country who’ve had similar situations and they’ve come through it on the other side,” Stricklin said. “I really believe we will come through it on the other side. Obviously we want to make sure our players are safe and healthy. And as I mentioned at the beginning fortunately we don’t have anybody who’s really sick from a symptom standpoint. But we want to make sure we take care of those individuals, we take care of those who are currently testing negative and make sure that they continue to stay safe.”