Texas A&M players unaffected by UF COVID outbreak...for now

News broke on Tuesday that the Florida Gators had ceased all football activities following a surge in positive COVID-19 cases among their players. The team now has 19 active cases, and after just traveling to College Station to play Texas A&M last Saturday, everyone is naturally concerned that positive test results could start happening on the Aggie roster as well.

At least so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“We have been in touch with officials at the University Florida and have also reviewed the available data from the Kinexon contact tracing system deployed by the SEC,” said Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork. “At this point, there has been no impact within our football program, but we will continue our regular testing regimen this week and stay diligent with all of our safety protocols.”

Obviously A&M is far from out of the woods. With the incubation period for COVID-19 being up to 14 days, it is possible the Aggies could see a surge in cases later this week or even next week. From a logistical perspective, the good news is that if A&M was forced to postpone their game against Mississippi St., it might only be for one week. Both the Aggies and Bulldogs have a bye week scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, so it’s very possible that if COVID-19 cases delayed the game, it might only be for one week. If that’s not possible, the game could not be played until Saturday, Dec. 12.

You hope that the testing procedures and safety protocols they have had in place have been followed and are effective, but at some point, you can’t play football while social distancing (well, unless your’e the Florida defense, amirite?).