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FAYETTEVILLE — It has been more than a month since athletes have returned to Arkansas’ campus and Hunter Yurachek is pleased with how the process has unfolded.

Arriving in four separate phases beginning with those in fall sports - including football - the first week of June, there are now more than 300 total student-athletes representing all 19 sports on campus as of July 6, Yurachek said on a Zoom videoconference with local media Thursday.

The Razorbacks implemented a plan that included testing and cleaning protocols, as well as other safeguards, to ensure their safety as they returned to Fayetteville from across the country.

“I truly believe that plan has worked very, very well,” Yurachek said. “I’m extremely proud of our medical staff, our student-athletes, our support staff - that includes our athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches - and each of our head coaches for setting the tone and doing an incredible job making adjustments as they return to campus.”

For the first time since announcing one positive case of COVID-19 back on June 4, Yurachek provided an update on Arkansas’ numbers.

He said less than 10 student-athletes and only two staff members have tested positive, with all but one having already returned to workouts or work. Very few of those people had symptoms and if they did, they were minor and lasted only about 24 hours.

There are also up to 20 student-athletes in varying stages of a 14-day quarantine because of contact tracing, but all of them have tested negative.

Yurachek added that each of the positive cases has been traced back to a student-athlete or staff member traveling outside of Northwest Arkansas and bringing the virus back. They haven’t found any transfer within the athletic facilities.

Much of the credit for that goes to the responsibility shown by everyone at Arkansas. Football coach Sam Pittman previously said he trusted his players to make smart choice and it seems as though that’s been the case.

“Out of the gates, there was an education process for sure, because college students are college students,” Yurachek said. “But I think as we get closer to the fall sports season, you’re starting to see the habits of our football, soccer, volleyball, cross country teams change when they’re away from our venues. They feel that their seasons are imminent and they don’t want to do anything that hurts that.”

As the season approaches, Arkansas’ plan will evolve with guidance from the NCAA.

About an hour before Yurachek spoke to the media, the NCAA released its third version of recommendations for the return of sports. Included in that plan is testing all athletes at least 72 hours before games and events, which he said Arkansas is prepared to “fall in line with.”

A more detailed plan for the Power Five conferences - the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC - was outlined by Sports Illustrated earlier in the day. It features a mandatory 14-day quarantine for players who come into close contact with players who test positive, as well as other requirements.

While the Big Ten and Pac-12 have already announced a conference-only schedule for 2020 and some smaller conferences - including a handful of FCS leagues - have canceled fall sports, the SEC’s only move has been to postpone the cross country, soccer and volleyball seasons through August.

The league has targeted the end of July as a deadline for decisions regarding football and other fall sports, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement that the situation “must improve,” a sentiment echoed by Yurachek.

“We need everybody to do their part and we need this to start trending in the other direction,” Yurachek said. “I think if we see this does not trend in the other direction and we see a continued increase in cases across our country and across this region and the death rate increase, I think that will give us a pretty good indication we’re going to have to put a stop to this.”

One step toward that happened at the state level Thursday, with Governor Asa Hutchinson issuing a statewide face covering mandate that will go into effect Monday. It is similar to requirements instituted by the University of Arkansas system and corporate giant Walmart, as well as a few other states.

However, it has been met by criticism from some who see it as an infringement on their freedoms.

“It's a shame, in my opinion, that wearing a mask has become a political decision,” Yurachek said. “To me it's just the right thing to do from what we've heard from medical personnel.

“Me and my family are active mask wearers as are all our staff members that have come to work. It's the right thing to do not only for yourself, but everyone you come in contact with.”

Whether or not the 2020 fall sports season goes on as scheduled - or even a modified version - will be decided in the coming weeks. After feeling relatively confident a month ago, Yurachek admitted he was closer to 50/50 now, but is still hopeful it’ll happen.

“At some point in time, I feel like we have to move on with our new norm,” Yurachek said. “That new norm is things that involve a great deal of testing, social distancing, wearing of the mask and the hand sanitization.

“We're not going to get back to normal in the next year or two it doesn't sound like, so we have to develop what that new normal looks like. We have to make some personal decisions, but when we make those decisions to leave our house and do things, there are some things that we should do that are in the best interest of everyone we come in contact with.”