At least seven Idaho State athletes have tested positive for COVID-19, ISU athletic director Pauline Thiros said Tuesday.

Thiros acknowledged the positive results in an interview with ISU radio commentator Jerry Miller. Six of the cases are previously unreported, as the athletic department had reported one positive test on July 7.

“We test when they arrive, and we test if there are symptoms or exposure to a known case,” said Thiros. “Of all the tests we’ve done, we’ve actually had, I think, seven positives.”

This comes after an initial round of testing among returning athletes and staff, first reported on June 20, revealed no positives among 115 tests.

Idaho State then continued to test athletes as they returned to campus or showed symptoms, and that testing revealed the first positive case, which the athletic department reported in a press release on July 7.

According to Thiros, the athletic department at that point had administered 146 tests in total.

Speaking to Miller on Tuesday, she said that her best guess was that the number now was “close to 200 tests.”

Athletes who test positive are required to self-isolate, as are the other members of their workout groups.

Thiros said that it was “hard to say” whether the additional positive tests were the result of athlete-to-athlete exposure.

“Certainly, once a case arrives, the most susceptible to it are those in the same training group, or roommates, or things like that,” Thiros said.

Idaho State’s football team, which began an enhanced summer access period Friday that allows for more contact between players and coaches as the team begins walkthroughs and film study, is scheduled to start the season Aug. 29 at New Mexico.

“I think we’re doing very well,” Thiros said in her interview with Miller. “It’s a matter of the new normal — every day we do tests, every day we get results, and every day we take the steps that follow.”