Florida Athletics COVID-19 Testing Update
Press release from University Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association released the following COVID-19 testing update.
**Based on test results available as of Monday, September 14**
The University of Florida’s Athletic Association is pausing all athletic activity for the Gators Lacrosse and Baseball programs due to a significant number of student-athletes that tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. As of Monday, lacrosse reported 31 positive cases and baseball reported 15.
Those student-athletes who tested positive, along with their respective contacts, will follow quarantine guidelines until they are cleared by health officials.
The athletic department released last week that it had just one positive out of 687 tests of student-athletes in August and seven out of 191 this month as of September 7.
Below are the current testing numbers for the athletic department and the football program as of September 14.
Since Student-Athletes Returned to Campus on May 26
Total Tests on Campus: 1,564
Total Positives on Campus: 103
Total Tests for September: 528
Total Positives for September: 68
Since Football Student-Athletes Returned to Campus on May 26
Total Tests on Campus: 692
Total Positives on Campus: 28
Total Tests for September: 230
Total Positives for September: 7
UF needs to adopt testing policies that set a threshold for what should be considered a positive test. We are told that the PCR test is extremely sensitive, and can give positive results even at levels that indicate an extremely mild, asymptomatic infection and very mild exposure risk.
Quite a few epidemiologists have stated that overly strict lockdowns on low-risk portions of our society may actually be counterproductive to preventing illness and death from COVID among higher-risk people.
The following article is by Martin Kulldorff, a Professor of Medicine, Biostatistician, and Vaccine Safety Researcher at Harvard Medical School.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/herd-immunity-is-still-key-in-the-fight-against-covid-19