November 19, 2020

Resuming Professional Football during the Covid-19 Pandemic in a Country with High Infection Rates: A Prospective Cohort Study

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

Keywords (Tags): sports

• [Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A prospective cohort study of Qatari professional football (soccer) players, staff, and officials (n=1337) during a truncated football season with a tailored infection control program identified 85 cases (36 players) with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 was similar to the general population. Infection control measures included regular PCR testing every 3-5 days, serology testing every 4 weeks, and a signed pledge to adhere to home quarantine and to limit social contacts. More than half of the people who developed infections were asymptomatic, and contact tracing identified social contacts and family as the most common infection sources.

Schumacher et al. (Nov 18, 2020). Resuming Professional Football during the Covid-19 Pandemic in a Country with High Infection Rates: A Prospective Cohort Study. Pre-print downloaded Nov 19 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.17.20233023