Florida football, Gators athletics reports no new COVID-19 cases

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Florida football and Gators athletics reported no new COVID-19 cases in the month of November on Tuesday.

This is the first time since September that No. 8 Florida reported no new positives.

This news comes on the heels of a COVID-19 outbreak that saw 37 player infected, several staff members infected, and the postponement of UF’s game against LSU and Missouri.

The Gators were without several players during their last matchup against the Tigers, including starting kicker Evan McPherson and starting defensive backs, Marco Wilson, Donovan Stiner and Shawn Davis.

Mullen is hopeful to have more players available this weekend, when they play Georgia in Jacksonville.

“Well we certainly hope,” the Gators head coach said. “I have no idea what we’re going to have because we haven’t gotten today’s results. You have to get Thursday’s results. But I hope we have better numbers this week than we had last week.”

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Florida will face fifth-ranked Georgia on Saturday. This game could very well determine the SEC East.

“It doesn’t clinch it or seal anything, but I mean it’s certainly whoever wins this game, certainly is putting themselves in the driver’s seat to get to Atlanta,” said Mullen. “You’re two games up on this team and you’re really two games up on everybody else in the league at that point. So it makes it a big game. But you know, it’s always been a big game for a long time.”

The SEC allows individuals who have tested positive to go without testing for 90 days following their positive test result, so the Gators only had to test 50 players this month.

In total, Florida has now had 68 players test positive since the return to campus in late May, on a total of 2,971 tests.

The Gators athletic department as a whole had zero positive cases.

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