11 Florida athletes have tested positive for coronavirus since April

A total of 11 Florida Gators athletes have tested positive for the novel coronavirus dating back to April, the program confirmed Tuesday.

The news, first reported Zach Goodall of AllGators, has since been confirmed to reporters by Florida spokesman Steve McClain.

Goodall’s breakdown of those 11 cases reveals only some of the divergences in the nature of the diagnoses: One athlete tested positive as part of testing during Florida’s return-to-campus program, and two others — one “in April” and the other “more recently with an out-of-state athlete” — had previously been acknowledged as positive tests by Florida in a briefing on the status of the program in early June, but the eight remaining tests are not further elaborated on.

Florida also reported in that release that 80 football players had been tested with no positive results for COVID-19, with “10 to 15” tests being processed per day. Florida football players began returning to campus for offseason training on June 8; Florida’s soccer and volleyball teams joined the program’s offseason regimen on Monday.

And per that same release, “In the event an athlete tests positive, there are tracing and mitigation protocols in place that will be followed.” Likely, this includes contact tracing, strict quarantine of two weeks or more, and close monitoring.

While Florida student-athletes are very likely to be among the cohort of individuals infected with coronavirus who might be asymptomatic or have minimal symptoms not requiring significant medical care, little is known for certain about the medium- and long-term effects of infection, and cases that require hospitalization, even if they do not result in death, can produce long and arduous recoveries.

Florida’s first sporting event of the 2020-21 academic year is a soccer match set for August 10. The Gators’ first football game is scheduled for September 5.