The Premier League have conducted the first trial for the testing necessary to get teams back to training and eventually playing as well.
As reported by The Athletic’s David Ornstein, a group of non-playing first-team staff at Wolverhampton Wanderers were tested in a drive-through facility at the club’s training ground yesterday, Monday, with results expected back within 24 hours from a London-based lab.
The tests are being conducted by a private company called Prenetics, a Hong Kong-based biotech firm, at a reported cost of around £4m. It sounds like the company’s providing their own staff, with the league covering all costs. In theory, this should place no burden on the NHS or other public resources, though the abundance of testing here versus the limited supply elsewhere in the country doesn’t make for the best optics in this situation — a constant theme throughout the Premier League’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With training possibly set to resume next week, the Premier League’s hoping to roll out this capability to all training sites this week, and will be looking to gain support, buy-off, and consent from managers and players in a series of meetings on Wednesday.
Exclusive: PL starts #COVID19 testing with trial at Wolves. Group of #WWFC non-playing 1st team staff used drive-through station to give nose mouth swabs in process being rolled out at all 20 clubs, subject to player consent. Full details @TheAthleticUK: https://t.co/Vr2mtfMHQn
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 12, 2020
