With hospitalizations surging across the country as a result of the relatively new and highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19, the Gators will be taking some extra precautions as the team begins fall camp on Friday. According to coach Dan Mullen (via a report from the Associated Press’ Mark Long), the team will spend at least part of fall camp staying in a hotel in an attempt to prevent an outbreak.
Mullen said he feels the team has learned a lot from last season with regard to how it approaches the virus.
“We’re going to have some protocols that we put in place,” Mullen said Thursday, according to Long. “I think everyone’s a little bit more educated about it now moving forward. … I think there’s a lot more familiarity with it right now.
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“When you look at our protocols, how we’re going about it within the ability to wear a mask, when we’re wearing them, what situations, indoor compared to outdoors, how we’re managing guys that have been vaccinated compared to non-vaccinated, I think we’re just a lot more educated on how we adjust within what we’re doing to keep everybody as safe as possible.”
This seems to be an attempt to avoid a similar outbreak to the one that followed a loss on the road to Texas A&M in 2020. Upon returning to Gainesville, Mullen, two assistants and around 30 players tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in a full shutdown of team activities and two games being rescheduled.
On Thursday, Mullen said that Florida is “probably over” the 85% vaccination threshold, though he said he wasn’t aware of the exact number. Teams at the 85% threshold do not have to test players or coaches regularly nor must they require masks while inside team facilities, per current SEC policy.
The 2021 season represents a return to normalcy for college football in many ways, but with rising new cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, we aren’t completely out of the woods yet. Considering the SEC has said that it will not reschedule games that can’t be played due to COVID-19 (meaning affected teams would be forced to forfeit), an outbreak could be catastrophic to a potential title contender.
With this in mind, it’s understandable that the UF staff doesn’t want to take any chances with the season opener against Florida Atlantic less than a month away.
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