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Smart: Georgia football facing its highest COVID-19 spike

Grant Halverson / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said Monday that the Bulldogs are currently facing their "highest spike" in COVID-19 cases, with three or four players sidelined after contracting the virus, according to ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm as concerned as I've ever been because we have three or four guys out with COVID and we have a couple staff members that have been out with COVID here recently," Smart said.

"For us, we're at our highest spike. And people are talking about vaccinations, well these are people that are vaccinated. We're talking about breakthroughs, and so that concerns you not only for the players on your team that are unvaccinated, that are playing and not playing, because we want everybody to be safe. But it concerns me for the players that are vaccinated that we could lose them."

Smart refused to name the players who are currently out due to COVID-19, and it's unclear whether they will be available for Georgia's home opener against UAB on Saturday.

Georgia traveled to North Carolina to face Clemson last week without its director of sports medicine, Ron Courson, who tested positive.

"I think there's this relief that you guys feel like everything's back to normal, well it's really just not for us right now," Smart added.

In July, the Bulldogs surpassed the SEC's 85% threshold for vaccinations, with Smart adding his goal was to reach 100%.

Georgia isn't requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test from fans to attend games at Sanford Stadium this year.

The Bulldogs kicked off their 2021 slate with a dominant defensive performance, beating the Tigers 10-3.

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