The medics and infectious disease specialists who helped draw up the Serie A protocol assure testing all players and staff regularly for COVID-19 “will not take anything away” from local hospitals.
Football has been shut down by the coronavirus pandemic for over a month now and the plans are in place to resume training in Italy from May 4, with games towards May 27-31.
The medics and infectious disease specialists who helped draw up the Serie A protocol assure testing all players and staff regularly for COVID-19 “will not take anything away” from local hospitals.
Football has been shut down by the coronavirus pandemic for over a month now and the plans are in place to resume training in Italy from May 4, with games towards May 27-31.
“We prepared a protocol to guarantee as much safety as possible for a squad to resume training, but we don’t make the decision on when to resume,” said Paolo Zeppilli on Rai News.
Zeppilli is the chief of the FIGC medical commission that was put together to work out the post-coronavirus football approach.
“We thought of a reduced number of players who can get back into training for two to three weeks. They need both swabs and blood tests.”
Several Serie A players have already tested positive, so what will happen if another athlete is infected?
“Our hope is that with the protocol set up this way, the risk will not be zero, but at least minimal. After the first week of training, the blood tests should be repeated. We have tried to set up a simple, feasible protocol that all clubs can follow.
“The FIGC is in contact with UEFA. I can say that Germany are at a more advanced stage than we are in preparations, as they want to get the Bundesliga underway earlier.”
Some have bitterly criticised Serie A and the football world for trying to use repeated coronavirus tests for athletes and staff, when hospitals are still dealing with thousands of tests every day.
The Corriere dello Sport contacted Giovanni Di Perri, director of the department specialising in infectious diseases at the University of Turin, to ask about this issue.
“A closed system would allow us to be ready within two to three weeks. We would perform swab and blood tests, then recreate their recent contact history.
“Testing Serie A players won’t make any difference to anyone. Soon there will be more than enough tests, products and reagents for everyone.”