Florida pauses team activities due to coronavirus outbreak

Saturday's showdown between the No. 10 Florida Gators (2-1) and LSU Tigers (1-2) is now very much in doubt. 

Hours after Florida reported five new COVID-19 cases within the football program, Payton Titus of the Independent Florida Alligator Student Newspaper tweeted that at least 19 players have now tested positive for the virus. Florida confirmed in an official statement that it is temporarily pausing team activities following the discovery of the virus outbreak. 

"Head coach Dan Mullen has been in communication with football players and their parents, and I have had conversations with the Southeastern Conference office, last week's opponent Texas A&M, and this week's opponent LSU," Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in the prepared statement. 

"These circumstances will be re-evaluated by UF Health and the athletic department's sports medicine staff Wednesday."

On Monday, Mullen praised how both the team and school had handled conducting a season amid the pandemic: 

"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.

"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."

Mullen recently generated controversy when he suggested Florida should completely fill its stadium for home games. It's believed the Gators will continue to limit capacity to 20% through the fall. 

Also on Monday, a scheduled game between the Vanderbilt Commodores and Missouri Tigers became the first SEC contest postponed this season due to positive coronavirus tests and subsequent quarantines that left Vanderbilt without a required number of scholarship student-athletes available to participate.