Florida Gators football team has five more COVID-19 cases

The No. 10 Florida Gators (2-1) reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases within the program on Tuesday. 

As Edgar Thompson wrote for the Orlando Sentinel, the university conducted 345 tests among players last week. An additional 437 tests of student-athletes not associated with the football team all produced negative results. 

The identities of Florida players who return positive results in any testing round are kept confidential. 

"I think if you look at what we've been able to do, the safety precautions we have that our players have followed, our coaches follow, our staff follows, you know, I think we're a model of safety of what we've been doing during this time period," Florida head coach Dan Mullen told reporters on Monday. 

"So, I'm really proud of how we've handled everything and how safe we've been with everything we're doing and all the precautions we've had in place during this time."

The Gators reported one positive test among players last week. 

Mullen recently made headlines when he said he thinks Florida should be able to fill its outdoor stadium to full capacity for home games despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It's believed the Gators will limit capacity to 20% for Saturday's showdown with LSU (1-2) that had its kickoff moved from 3:30 p.m. ET to 4:00 p.m. that same day. 

On Monday, a scheduled game between the Vanderbilt Commodores and Missouri Tigers became the first SEC contest postponed due to coronavirus-related issues.