AS Roma will resume training in earnest tomorrow, but, in the absence of a medical procedure negotiated with the FIGC and the State, it has procured its own safety system to reassure players, staff, and fans.
Roma explained the scope of the steps they are taking to protect players and staff from COVID-19 upon returning to work, including temperature and oxygen tests at the entrance. Though training has been set to resume, it is currently just running around the pitches.
“We have worked closely with experts from the Biomedical Campus, to have as much information as possible available to us about how to try to prevent any spread of Covid-19, and to understand how to implement those measures at our training centre,” Chief Global Sporting Officer Manolo Zubiria told the club website. “As a result we have worked on a precisely detailed protocol, one that has also been approved by Regione Lazio, the local authority.”
He then goes into the details:
“There are three stations set up to measure the temperature and oxygen levels of anyone entering the complex, with one station dedicated exclusively for the use of players and coaching staff. Over the last couple of days, we have begun with some medical assessments, without having any of the players come into contact with each other.
“There will be more than 10 metres between each of the players. In terms of the workload, it will predominantly be athletic work, with some ball-work to regain a feel for the game. Staff on the pitches will all wear masks.
“The players will arrive wearing masks, which they will keep on up until the start of the training session. They will have their temperature measured, oxygen levels recorded via pulse oximetry and then will also complete a Covid-19 specific health questionnaire.
“They will then go to their individual rooms, where they will be able to change and then head directly to the training pitch – because the dressing rooms and other common areas will be kept closed.
“Pitch side the players will find their boots, along with all the fluids they will need throughout the session. At the end of the training, they will leave the pitch one at a time and return to their rooms – where they will be able to take a shower and leave all the materials they have used during the course of the training session in a bag that they will have to seal up.”
Players are divided into small groups, which rotate in three shifts, leaving only four players on each training pitch. If a player arrives at Trigoria and his temperature increases, he will be placed in an insulation room and tested again.
