When can football fans return? And is Trump right about plasma?

Q

WHEN can I go to a football match again?

A

THE Government is due to make an announcement in the first week of October regarding public attendance of spectator sports, including football.

It is expected that officials will increase the number of people permitted to attend sporting events following this announcement – but it is not guaranteed.

Premier League football continues behind closed doors. Fans are, however, allowed to attend football matches in the seventh tier of the game and below, which usually attract fewer than 100 visitors. Fans are urged not to chant or shout for fear of spreading the virus.

Yesterday, as part of Government-approved trials to assess the safety of matches, Brighton & Hove Albion allowed 2,500 seasonticket holders to watch a preseason friendly against Chelsea at their Amex Stadium. Fans had to wear masks when not at their seats and stewards carried out random temperature checks.

Q

CAN blood plasma, donated from Covid survivors help those struck down with the virus? I heard Donald Trump touting the benefits of this.

A

LAST week President Trump green-lighted the emergency approval of blood plasma extracted from Covid survivors, or convalescent plasma, as a treatment for Covid-19, in the US.

According to a top doctor at the US Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn, the treatment could be lifesaving. The plasma of people who’ve suffered Covid-19 contains antibodies that could help those who are currently ill. But we don’t know how effective it is for saving the most seriously ill.

The largest study, conducted by US researchers involving 35,000 patients, found that a transfusion of convalescent plasma given early on in the illness reduced the risk of dying – providing the plasma was very high in antibodies. However, experts have criticised the quality of the study, and it’s possible other factors may be behind the effect – such as other medication or the reduced potency of the virus over time. But research into the effect of plasma on other infections suggests there may be something in it – and two trials in the UK are currently under way.

According to the available evidence, Dr Stephen Griffin, virologist at the University of Leeds, says plasma with high numbers of antibodies seems to reduce the risk of death in severely ill Covid patients by roughly 3.5 per cent.

Q

WILL I have to go under quarantine if I visit an area in the UK that’s under local lockdown restrictions?

A

LAST week, the Government added yet more nations to the list of quarantine countries. Those who travel to the UK from these countries must stay home for 14 days.

Paul Charles, a travel consultant and chief executive at a travel PR firm – notes that nations with an infection rate of at least 20 per 100,000 for a period of seven days or more will likely be added to the quarantine list. But Britain’s Covid-19 hotspots, such as Oldham, for instance, have an infection rate of more than double this – and no quarantine rules are in place for those returning from these areas.

Why? ‘In most of these UK areas, such as Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, meeting people indoors is not permitted, so few people are travelling there anyway,’ says Professor Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, University of Nottingham.

‘Those that do will be low risk because they will be permitted to only socialise outdoors, where risk of transmission is low.’ Prof Neal adds that local quarantines would be ‘unfeasible’.