After having confirmed that he was one of only three positive coronavirus tests in the Championship’s latest test round, Blackburn captain Elliott Bennett says he feels “fit and healthy”.
Bennett said: “I feel fit and healthy. Hopefully this sends out a positive message to the community that perhaps many people have or have had the virus without showing any effects.
Between Monday and Wednesday of this week the English Football League confirmed 1,030 samples from players and staff were gathered at second-tier clubs, with three positive results coming from two sides. Fulham also announced that two of their players had tested positive. Due to medical confidentiality they did not name them.
Blackburn then confirmed on Monday that Bennett had been tested and found to have COVID-19 but was asymptomatic. Bennett tested positive for Covid-19 with two other unnamed Fulham players:
“I obviously would never have known if we hadn’t returned to training and taken the tests, because I don’t feel unwell and have got no symptoms whatsoever.
“There seems to have been a lot of hysteria about footballers returning to training, but it’s not a big deal at all.
“It’s the people who are seriously ill in hospital that we need to worry about, not footballers who are fit and healthy, and who aren’t showing any signs of being unwell.”
He will now isolate himself for seven days and return to training on June 5 unless he goes on to develop symptoms, the club said.
Meanwhile, the results, which show that well over 99.5 per cent of those tested were negative, are another boost to the restart plans for the Championship, with the competition hoping to resume next month at some stage.
On Thursday, the Premier League announced that a provisional restart date has been decided for the June 17 2019-20 season.
