USF pauses football while waiting for coronavirus test results

A day after Notre Dame postponed its upcoming game against Wake Forest, its previous opponent, South Florida, called a halt to football activities while it awaits test results for possible coronavirus spread among players.

USF announced that it was pausing activities until receiving the results of Wednesday's tests, but it said that tests done last Friday before its 52-0 loss to Notre Dame as well as Monday's postgame testing resulted in no positive cases.

The school said the pause in activities was due to "an abundance of caution."

USF is scheduled to play FAU this Saturday. FAU has yet to play a game this season because of virus-related scheduling difficulties.

Notre Dame postponed its game against Wake Forest, scheduled for Saturday, because of an outbreak of COVID-19 on the team. Seven Irish players tested positive. Combined with testing results from the previous week, 13 players are currently in isolation, with 10 in quarantine. That game has been rescheduled for Dec. 12.

"We knew COVID would present challenges throughout the season, and we'll always put student-athlete health and safety at the forefront of our decision making," Irish coach Brian Kelly said in a statement Tuesday. "We look forward to resuming team activities and getting back on the playing field."

USF is reviewing contact tracing from the game, though CDC guidelines require contact within 6 feet for greater than 15 minutes to a person who tests positive, and several coaches have said typical game conditions would not meet this criteria. Prior to the season, both Miami and Virginia Tech conducted studies of practices and found that no two players were likely to be within the contact radius for greater than 15 minutes.

USF has not announced a decision on whether Saturday's game against FAU will be played.