No other Tottenham players forced to self-isolate despite squad member testing positive for Covid-19
No other Tottenham Hotspur player has been forced to self-isolate despite a member of the squad recording the Premier League’s first positive coronavirus test since contact training resumed.
The Government has made it clear that all professional athletes are expected to follow its new ‘test and trace’ scheme to help limit the coronavirus spread and which means that all ‘close contacts’ of a positive test should self-isolate for two weeks.
It is understood that it was a fringe first-team player at Spurs who recorded the league’s only positive test earlier this week and, while he must now self-isolate for seven days and cannot train for two weeks, none of his team-mates have been required to self-isolate.
According to Government guidelines, there are three situations that constitute ‘close contact’. These are if you have had face-to-face contact at a distance of less than one metre; if you have spent 15 minutes or more with someone at a distance of less than two metres; or if you have travelled in a car with them.
Premier League players have been urged to minimise any risk of face-to-face contact during training and are using GPS data trackers to help them identify if players or staff have been in close contact for any period of time.
With clubs practicing social distancing as much as possible, Tottenham do not believe that the player who tested positive had been in ‘close contact’ with any team-mate or member of staff.
The first Premier League matches back are scheduled to take place on Wednesday June 17 and then the next full round of games will follow that weekend, meaning that any 14-day self-isolation would almost certainly rule a player – or manager – out of the first match.
There is also a ‘return to play’ protocol as part of the medical guidance for dealing with all footballers who have contracted Covid-19 and, even for those who were asymptomatic, the minimum period before returning to group training is two weeks.
This includes the seven day self-isolation period, with players then only able to return to graded activity on day eight –subject to a negative test – before group training after 14 days. For symptomatic cases, players must be symptom free for at least 14 days before they can return to team training. That would make the Tottenham player who tested positive for Covid-19 a major doubt for their first match.
Premier League players are currently tested twice a week, usually on a Monday or Tuesday and then a Thursday or Friday. The results from the next round of tests will be on Saturday, when any positive test would be almost certain to rule out the affected player or indeed manager or coach.
The extra time to monitor an elite athlete's recovery and return to activity after a positive Covid-19 diagnosis has followed evidence of a significantly increased risk of heart injury among those people hospitalised with the virus. In the United States, even stricter rules are being proposed that would only allow asymptomatic athletes to return to gradual activity after two weeks.
Football’s ‘return to play’ protocol will apply across elite sport in the United Kingdom, which has been cleared by the Government to resume competitively this month.
