Blow for Aberdeen after positive tests
Cormack will ‘educate’ players after breach
Minister Nicola Sturgeon returned the Granite City to a state of partial lockdown for seven days after images emerged of crowded pavements outside city-centre venues over the weekend.
A total of 79 cases have now been diagnosed in the city, with bars and restaurants shut down for a week at 5pm on Thursday.
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack described the lapse in club protocol as a ‘bitter blow’ and vowed to ‘educate and remind everyone of what is, and what is not, acceptable in the current climate’.
‘After Saturday’s game, with all eyes on Pittodrie, we were once again commended on the stringent processes and measures we had in place,’ said Cormack.
‘Given the efforts of everyone at the club and our investment in protecting our most valuable assets, this is a bitter blow.
‘With two first-team players testing positive for Covid-19, plus six others having to isolate for 14 days, it is also a harsh reminder of the severity and speed of spread of this virus.
‘The club will be carrying out a full investigation but, as an immediate first step, we have reinforced the club’s Covid-19 protocols and the governing bodies’ guidance with every player and member of staff and will continue to regularly educate and remind everyone of what is, and what is not, acceptable in the current climate.
‘We now have to focus on preparing for Saturday’s game (against St Johnstone) under extremely difficult circumstances.’
Following crunch talks between the Scottish Government and Scottish football’s Joint Response Group yesterday, a statement said that one player had his positive result confirmed by a follow-up National Health Service test, with the second player awaiting the result of his own follow-up NHS procedure.
The statement added: ‘In light of the First Minister’s increased restrictions imposed on the city of Aberdeen since a significant outbreak of Covid-19 this week, and following further investigation by NHS Grampian’s Health Protection Team, the Scottish Government has instructed that both players will require to self-isolate, along with a further six players found to have been in close proximity to the initial positive player.
‘The initial positive player will require to self-isolate for ten days from yesterday, with the remaining seven players to self-isolate for 14 days from yesterday.
‘This instruction for selfisolation has been unanimously endorsed by the Joint Response Group. In light of the action taken, and after consultation with Scottish Government, Aberdeen’s Scottish Premiership match against St Johnstone on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled.’
The Aberdeen crisis follows one member of St Mirren’s backroom staff recently testing positive and Rangers, Hibernian and Motherwell being asked to clarify aspects of their covid testing procedures.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell had written to clubs reminding them of their responsibilities before the opening weekend of the season.
Rod Petrie, Joint Response Group chair, said last night: ‘As we have said from the outset, public health is the absolute priority of the Joint Response Group. As soon as we were informed of the positive tests, the information was immediately referred to the Scottish Government via our Chief Medical Consultant.
‘Given the well-documented outbreak in Aberdeen, it was imperative that we took the swiftest action to enable the local Health Protection Team to respond immediately.
‘The Scottish Government’s advice to the JRG was clear and unequivocal, as was our support of that advice.
‘Given the circumstances, we issue the strongest possible message to all clubs to ensure compliance with the twice-weekly testing procedure and Scottish football’s return-to-playing protocol. It is imperative that everyone adheres to Scottish Government public health advice.’ Ironically, speaking to
Sportsmail before pre-season training got underway on June 11, Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes had vowed to remind his players of their responsibilities during the pandemic.
‘We have to respect the virus,’ he said. ‘Players and staff have all been made aware of their responsibilities.
‘The club has put a hell of an outlay out to try and get us up and running again.
‘The training ground is now a hub where it’s safe to operate.
‘But we have to accept our added responsibility to make sure we don’t put ourselves at any more risk than we have to.
‘I will tell the players face to face that we still have to treat this like a lockdown. We have to limit our time out in public to make sure we don’t allow the virus into our working environment.’