With no positives among the COVID-19 tests it says it has administered to its football players, coaches and staff, you’d think the University of Hawaii would want to shout the results from high atop Bachman Hall.

You’d imagine administrators there would want to speak with full-throated clarity and depth on an issue where a high degree of transparency is a necessity in these times of so much uncertainty.

Instead, UH administrators fell back on the crutch of obfuscation.

Nine days after being asked about their testing program for the first football players back on campus for workouts, UH responded with replies that raised more questions and concerns than they answered.

In response to questions about COVID-19 testing from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, UH said, “Approximately 100 football (players) are working out and none have tested positive since arriving on campus. The university will not disclose the exact number of tests we have arranged for and individuals may have been tested without our knowledge.”

Which was why, two weeks into a return to campus for workouts, some football players quickly took to social media on Sunday to express concerns about not having been tested, including one who Tweeted, “Only thing I’ve been tested for was 300 yard shuttle …”

At this point in the COVID-19 cursed college sports year, you can hardly blame the athletes if they are feeling a little like canaries in a coal mine.

As they go through their early workouts, trudging toward a season filled with unknowns, the questions about health — theirs and that of their families — are omnipresent.

In a matter of days, they see on ESPN that 14 of 111 University of Oklahoma players have tested positive and one of 93 at Boston College. They hear that 41 of 518 (players of various sports, coaches and staffers) have tested positive at West Virginia and that Ohio State, which does not disclose numbers, has suspended all voluntary workouts.

To be sure, testing today is no assurance that players won’t be stricken with the virus in subsequent days, but it does provide some momentary peace of mind in a time when just getting through each day safely is the goal.

When UH players reported to campus July 6 for strength and conditioning workouts, UH said it undertook daily screening, which included temperature checks and a questionnaire. UH also said it had undertaken “suspicion-based testing” but would not say how many were tested. Nor would it supply a range on the costs of testing. “We will continue to test based on symptoms received through daily (player) screenings and/or any potential exposures we’ve become aware of,” UH said.

When it might test the entirety of the squad, coaches and staff wasn’t announced. But, hopefully, in line with recently announced NCAA recommendations, it will be before contact drills are scheduled to begin July 31.

A panel of five infectious disease experts interviewed by the Washington Post said that, ideally, all athletes should be tested before returning to campus and then at least weekly once full-contact practice begins.

Meanwhile we wait for UH to enunciate with some clarity what its plan is.

The belief is that UH continues to keep the best interests of its athletes in the forefront, even if sometimes mumbles the message.