The new superstrain of Covid-19 is spreading around the UK like wildfire, even with 80% of the country in near total lockdown, and it is gradually spreading around the world as well.
The West Brom coach Big Sam has called for a two-week break for football as a “circuit-breaker” to stop the spread of the virus while it is so virulent, but Arteta thinks that all the tests and protocols for footballers minimises the risk of players spreading it further.
“We are all concerned with our own health and what is going on around us,” Arteta told FourFourTwo. “But at the same time, with all the protocols we have in place, everything we do around the training ground, around football matches, the fact that we play our sport outdoors, it minimises the risks a lot.
“If you see the records since we began to test, it is incredibly positive and I think as long as we can, we have to keep on doing that.
“Obviously we can’t put anybody at risk but I think we have shown that the system is working.
“Okay, in the last week or so something has happened and I think we will have more restrictions and more tests to try to be as efficient as we were before, but I think it can work and I think we can carry on doing it.”
“Well, the importance of football in this society is massive I think,”
“When you ask and you talk to people and discuss what it means to have football games in this difficult period for everybody where there is not so much to do, I think it’s really, really important and what we have to do is just try to do it in a safe way, as we have been doing recently. I think there are many, many positives.”
Of course one positive is that the fans can still watch Arsenal while we are all stuck indoors looking for ways to occupy ourselves, but recently we are seeing more outbreaks at clubs which are causing games to be postponed.
Obviously we don’t yet know the full extent of dangers caused by the new Covid-19 strain, so I don’t think we can rule out a further pause to the season just yet, but I for one am extremely glad that we can still get our weekly football fix!