FSU pleased with early stages of athletes' return; challenges remain

After testing more than 150 football players, coaches and staff members for COVID-19 over the last three weeks, Florida State is inching forward with its plan to bringing more student-athletes back to campus.

Speaking at FSU's regularly scheduled athletics board meeting on Wednesday afternoon, FSU Director of Sports Medicine Robin Gibson said there has been only one positive test in the samples taken from 154 people in the athletics department since the testing began on May 20.

And that one person who tested positive was asymptomatic and quarantined, per department policy.

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If things go well with additional testing this week, there is a chance FSU could begin the process of bringing basketball players back to campus as soon as next week, athletics officials said. Other fall sports could follow soon after.

The only athletes who have been on campus since mid-March are football players, and they only returned earlier this month for the start of voluntary workouts on June 1. Each player, coach and staff member has to follow strict guidelines about which doors they can use and where they can walk in the building.

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FSU athletics director David Coburn said he won't give the OK for additional athletes to arrive on campus until he is certain that everything continues to go smoothly with football. He pointed out that all football activities so far have been contained to the Moore Athletic Center.

Bringing basketball players back would involve using the Basketball Training Center, and other fall sports have their own separate facilities.

Coburn said another significant hurdle on the horizon is the July 4 weekend. If student-athletes or staff leave Tallahassee for the holiday, there's a concern that one or more people in the department could become infected while traveling and bring it back to campus.

As for questions about the possibility of fans attending football games this fall, Coburn said the school still is considering every conceivable scenario between having zero spectators and 100 percent capacity.

He did say that there is discussion in the ACC about limiting the number of fans, bands and cheer squads that can attend road games in the conference, but he added that nothing has been decided.

All decisions about game schedules and fan attendance will likely be made by early July, Coburn said.

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