Quimsa from Santiago del Estero announced today that a member of his team had tested positive for Covid-19 and that generated a whole conflict due to the particular situation of Santiago del Estero, who on Sunday have to face San Lorenzo for the rescheduled third semifinal of the BCLA 2019/20. Likewise, the plans did not change too much and the team will leave tomorrow for Buenos Aires to try in the capital to meet with some foreigners who have been signed and be able to train with the entire group.
The Quimsa, plus the Platense (6 cases announced at the weekend), perhaps generated more noise than anything else, because the general situation, without being exact or precise based on how each club is being managed, is different, although fairly quiet. Let’s see.
Of the 20 teams in the League, there are 7 that have had positive cases. We will only name those who made it public, respecting the privacy that each one wanted to give to their situation. Those who reported it were Argentino (Valentín Burgos, before the start of training), Atenas (Arduh and Machuca), Platense (6 cases, without saying the names), Quimsa (today) and Gimnasia de Comodoro (Fernández Chávez, today) .
There were two other clubs with positive cases, and one that will probably announce tomorrow that it is the eighth, since they had a player with symptoms and they were going to do the swab today. Among the two clubs that did not make it public, there are another 7 cases, 5 players and 2 members of technical bodies.
If we add everything up, the figure is not high: 18. If we do a very simple account, it is totally logical. If we take 25 people per club among players, leaders and medical bodies, we are 500 involved. If, as estimated, the percentage of infected in the country is at 3% (of those tested), we are talking about 15 people. And in the League, the vast majority were tested. In the country, much less in percentage. Just a little more than 5% of the population.
Is this serious? Well, not in principle. Of the 17 infected, only some released had symptoms, and none too important. What’s more, there has also been some case, not reported either, in which the test showed that the player has the antibodies, and he never had symptoms or people from his close environment have ended up infected. All very of this pandemic, which confuses much more than it clarifies.
So what? Well, no one has gone into despair. The main problem today is the almost zero arrival of foreign players expected to act in the bubbles. They will surely have to present the negative PCR to enter the country and another that will be the mandatory one for the bubble. Most did PCR to those who entered from other cities, others did to everyone, others got into bubbles, others in semi-bubbles, others did not swab anyone and will only do it when someone tests positive or when it is already mandatory for the bubble, and they are pulling with what arises, like the whole world.
Is it to dramatize the situation? Well, it doesn’t seem. But it is not to be neglected either, because from the AdC they hope that this week the government will approve the bubbles and, if so, it may delay their start a little, but not long. And we are less than two weeks from the intended November 1. In any case, if the previous entry protocols do not fail, there should be no great risks to take. It is more a problem of how to get to that start of the tournament, with the greatest amount of training, and the positive cases above all attack that.
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