Four more Georgia Tech athletes test positive for COVID-19

Four additional Georgia Tech athletes had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday evening, an institute spokesman confirmed to the AJC.

That makes a total of seven Yellow Jackets athletes who have been positive cases, following three as of July 2. The seven positive tests were out of a pool of about 170 athletes. About 75 athletes returned to campus June 15 for the initial phase of voluntary workouts, with the remaining 95 returning in ensuing phases. Tech’s freshman football players arrived on campus this past weekend.

While the first three were identified in screening exams prior to the start of their workout programs, the stage at which the ensuing four were found to be infected with the coronavirus could not be confirmed. The athletic department has tested athletes prior to their arrival and then administered additional tests if athletes were symptomatic for COVID-19 and also through surveillance testing.

All athletes who did test positive followed the quarantine protocol established by the athletic department.

There were no additional athletic-department staff who tested positive following the three reported on July 2.

The testing numbers have demonstrated a broad range across college athletics since athletes began returning to campus in June. On Friday, Clemson reported 47 athletes and six staff with positive cases out of 722 tests, while Michigan reported that it had had four positives out of 375 tests on athletes.