The threat of Covid-19 returns as in early 2020. A new wave of the pandemic, derived from the Omicron variant, is causing havoc again within the sports world, to the point of paralyzing some of the most important leagues such as the Premier in English football or the NFL in American football. Stadium closures and match suspensions are becoming increasingly common again.
The first ravages of the variant began in South Africa, but little by little they have spread to different latitudes. The effect was present again when the German Bundesliga announced the closure of stadiums such as Signal Iduna Park or Allianz Arena, regardless of the size of matches such as the classic between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, which was played again behind closed doors. early december. This is how football began to test positive for Ómicron.
Angela Merkel Y Olaf Scholz, outgoing and incoming chancellor of the German government, respectively, agreed together with the 16 state leaders of the country that the football venues that were kept open could only do so with a maximum of 50% of their capacity or with 15,000 fans.
With just over two weeks remaining to close 2021, English football also suffers from the new variant. As of December 9, the 20 clubs in the Premier League (first category) took measures to contain the virus that had been used at the beginning of re-entry to the stadiums, such as social distancing, which had been relaxed in various settings where the vaccination rate exceeded 85 percent.
“The safety of all match attendees remains a priority for the Premier League and its clubs to ensure that everyone can enjoy safe environments on match day,” the Premier said in a statement. The measures were resumed after Tottenham Hotspur had an outbreak of 13 infections between players and staff that forced the cancellation of two of their games (against Rennes in the Conference League and against Brighton in the league).
Now the outbreaks have attacked other teams like Manchester United, Aston Villa y Crystal PalaceThe latter even decided to cancel their end-of-year festivities for fear of new infections due to mass gatherings.
One of the scenes that has attracted the most attention in recent days was that of the defender of the Manchester United, Sweden’s Victor Lindelof, who left the field during the weekend’s game against Norwich City citing breathing difficulties. However, the club stated in a statement: “Everything indicates that this is not linked to the Covid-19 outbreak that is stalking the team.”
But it is not only international football that is experiencing these difficulties. In Abu Dabi, the young British tennis player Emma Raducanu, champion of the US Open At age 18, he tested positive for Covid and was unable to participate in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition tournament that he was going to take in preparation for the start of the WTA Tour in Australia in early January, which includes the first Grand Slam the 2022.
In the American continent the most important leagues are beginning to put themselves in check. While the NBA canceled two matches of the dominant Chicago Bulls, the Lakers They canceled Tuesday’s training after guard Talen Horton-Tucker tested positive for Covid and the league’s health and safety protocols were activated. The Los Angeles squad had planned this practice before traveling to Dallas to face the Mavericks on Wednesday.
Other teams that have been affected recently by the contagion issue are Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets, while the Lakers they have their second player activated in protocols in Horton-Tucker after LeBron James spent about 48 hours away due to a false positive test in November.
According to the NFL, a record of 37 infections was registered on Monday, December 13, being the highest amount for a single day since the pandemic began. Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Tyler Higbee were among dozens of players who yielded positive results, ruling them out of the crucial Monday Night Football game of Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals (although the Rams won 30 -2. 3).
For its part, Washington Football Team revealed that it suffered its first positive of the omicron variant in a third-level employee, after this week he lost defensive tackle, Jonathan Allen, when he was placed on the Covid reserve list after testing positive . Being a vaccinated player, Allen only requires two positive tests in a 48-hour period to return to action.
It should be remembered that during the 2020-21 season, the first in a pandemic, a total of 66 players from the NFL They did not decide to participate for fear of contagion. Additionally, although not a single game was suspended, five of the 256 total games were postponed and the positivity range was 0.076%, much lower than the US national average of 6.8%. In the year 2021-22, not a single game has been postponed with only three weeks left to play in the regular phase.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx