Florida football pauses team activities after COVID-19 spike

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Team activities for No. 10 Florida have been paused after a COVID-19 outbreak, Gators athletics director Scott Stricklin announced Tuesday.

UF announced five new cases from the past week earlier in the day, but the football team reportedly had 19 positives tests on Tuesday morning. Stricklin said in a statement that the situation will be reassessed Wednesday.

"The University of Florida football team has experienced an increase in positive COVID tests among players this week. Out of an abundance of caution, team activities are paused as of Tuesday afternoon," Stricklin said.

"Head coach Dan Mullen has been in communication with football players and their parents, and I have had conversations with the Southeastern Conference office, last week’s opponent Texas A&M, and this week’s opponent LSU.

"These circumstances will be re-evaluated by UF Health and the athletic department’s sports medicine staff Wednesday."

The Gators are scheduled to host LSU at 4 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. According to the Gainesville Sun's Graham Hall, one of the players who tested positive this week played significant reps last Saturday at Texas A&M.

"We have been in touch with officials at the University of Florida and have also reviewed the available data from the Kinexon contact tracing system deployed by the SEC. At this point, there has been no impact within our football program," Aggies athletics director Ross Bjork said in a statement. "We will continue our regular testing regiment this week and stay diligent with all of our safety protocols."