Mississippi State, who is scheduled to play Georgia in Athens on Nov. 21, is having to postpone its game against Auburn this Saturday due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team, the SEC announced Monday.
That news follows the revelation that Georgia had its second head coach in less than a week test positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. The men’s tennis team postponed Sunday’s match against Auburn after legendary coach Manuel Diaz found out he was had been infected. Diaz has been ordered to quarantine for 10 days. Nobody else on the team tested positive, though they were all to undergo further tests on Monday.
“Doing good so far,” Diaz said via text Monday.
Meanwhile, women’s soccer coach Billy Lesesne had a positive test last Wednesday. The initial plan was for Lesesne to isolate while assistant coach Robert Lane took the reins for the regular-season finale against Missouri last Friday. But that game ended up being canceled “due to positive COVID-19 tests and subsequent quarantines within the Georgia program.”
Lesesne is scheduled to return for the Bulldogs’ appearance in the SEC Tournament this Sunday.
Athletic director Greg McGarity said those are isolated cases and does not believe the athletics department is on the verge of an outbreak.
“We all understand that it’s a highly infectious disease,” McGarity said Monday. “I just think we all have to do our due diligence to take every precaution possible, but even when you do it still doesn’t assure that you can be COVID-free. I know our coaches are diligent and our staff has done a great job with educating all our teams. But that doesn’t prevent it 100 percent. It just shows how contagious this virus is.”
Meanwhile, Georgia’s football team appears to have been fortunate so far against the virus.
The Bulldogs lost seven players to confirmed virus cases in June when the team returned to campus for volunteer workouts, then had eight players quarantine due to possible exposure later that month. The athletic association has not released any testing results since then, but it is believed that the team hasn’t had any players miss games due to infection or exposure.
“The good news is everybody has recovered from it,” McGarity said. “That’s the positive news about this. I don’t want to jinx us, but I’ll just say everybody who has had it has recovered and no one has experienced significant symptoms.”
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