Notre Dame Announces 18 Football Players Tested Positive for COVID-19

Notre Dame football announced Monday that 18 players have tested positive for COVID-19 in the school's latest round of testing. 

In total, 25 players are currently in isolation while 14 others are being quarantined for coming in close contact to players who have registered a positive test. 

Notre Dame has started the season 2-0, with wins over Duke (27-13) and South Florida (52-0), but their game last Saturday at Wake Forest was postponed because of the program's coronavirus cases. 

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly released the following statement after the postponement was announced:

"With student-athlete health and safety our primary focus, we will continue to follow our prevention protocols and ongoing testing procedures. We managed an increase in positivity rates in August, and the players handled it wonderfully. 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. We look forward to resuming team activities and getting back on the playing field."

The schools had been discussing this Saturday as a potential makeup date since both had an open date; the game has now been rescheduled to Dec. 12. 

The latest test results are a bump in the road for No. 5 Notre Dame, which looks like one of the top teams in the country during its maiden season in ACC play. Such are the realities of holding a season during a pandemic.