Add Auburn to the list of teams being hit by a COVID-19 outbreak.
Per Auburn Undercover, the Tigers have paused all team activities after a rise in positive cases, a total of 12 between nine players and three staff members.
After nine new positive cases among players and three among staff members, Auburn has indefinitely paused all team activities, Malzahn told reporters Tuesday morning.
In addition to the nine players, a “handful of close contacts” are also quarantining. Those players have to sit out 14 days, per SEC protocol, and cannot test out of their quarantines.
Malzahn didn’t say whether Auburn had traced its outbreak to a specific event, noting all the positives occurred “some time” during the team’s bye week last week, once players and staffers were “out of their routines.”
The Tigers game against Mississippi State this Saturday had already been postponed due to a rise in cases in Starkville.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in our players,” Malzahn said. “They’ve sacrificed a whole lot to even get to this point. Like I said, seven straight weeks (without a positive COVID-19 result), and then we have an outbreak. When we have an outbreak, it’s not just one guy. You know, it affects a lot of people. But our guys are determined. … I expect us to get this under control fairly quick and get back in our routine.”