West Virginia Announces 28 Football Players Have Tested Positive for COVID-19

The West Virginia athletic department released its COVID-19 testing numbers on Saturday.

Since June, the school has administered 518 tests, and 41 have resulted in positive cases. That figure includes 28 football players, five men's basketball players and six women's hoops players.

Per the athletic department, individuals who tested positive entered isolation for 14 days following news of their result. Contract tracing was then initiated, per the university.

Numerous schools have reported COVID-19 numbers since NCAA allowed athletes to return to campuses for voluntary workouts beginning June 1.

The Clemson football team has had 37 positive tests, and Ohio State was forced to shut down workouts after members of seven athletic teams returned positive cases. Northern Colorado also suspended workouts.

The chances of fall sports occurring in a few months appear grim as COVID-19 continues its spread throughout the United States.

A total of 71,484 new cases were reported in the United States on Saturday, marking the single-highest one-day total, per the World Health Organization. The COVID-19 daily case amount has nearly quadrupled since June 17.

NCAA President Mark Emmert released a statement on the future of fall sports amid the pandemic.

"When we made the extremely difficult decision to cancel last spring's championships it was because there was simply no way to conduct them safely. This document lays out the advice of health care professionals as to how to resume college sports if we can achieve an environment where COVID-19 rates are manageable. Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic."

The Division I college football season is currently scheduled to begin August 29.