Sprintec taking strict Covid-19 precautions
Published:Monday | March 23, 2020 | 12:19 AMDaniel Wheeler/Gleaner Writer
Sprintec Track Club head coach Maurice Wilson is taking no chances on measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Local athletes from various sporting disciplines have been forced to restructure their training programmes because of the Government’s restrictions on public gatherings. For athletics, it has required Wilson to employ strict protocols, including mandatory health checks for all personnel upon entering the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport and to cancel all athletics activities on campus. Training is also restricted to those who have a chance of making the Jamaican team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer should the event occur as planned. He says that considering how some athletes were affected by the Chikungunya virus (Chik-V) in 2014 and 2015, he is exercising extreme caution for his athletes.
“I consider this a very serious situation because I can remember, and I have always alluded to it, when Chik-V came about,” Wilson said. “A number of athletes caught Chik-V, and a number of them have not, in my mind, continued on the same path.
“So we are doing everything to protect individuals from getting this virus because we don’t know what will happen, or how they will react going forward.”
NO-TOLERANCE POLICY
Wilson has put in place a no-tolerance policy on leaving the campus for athletes who live in the dormitories.
“Any residential person who leaves, we will not accept them back on campus because we cannot tell exactly where they are coming from,” Wilson said. “We have spoken to them every single day about who they associate with and try to limit their exposure, and if there is any report of anyone not adhering to those guidelines, we’ll have to ask them to stay away from the campus until the Government gives us other instructions.”
The athletics season has been upended with the postponement of the World Athletics Indoor Champions and the first three Diamond League meetings. There have been growing concerns about staging the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisting that the Games will go on as scheduled. Wilson believes that as things stand, he would be uneasy about the event taking place.
“If we were to assemble 14,000 persons in one area for one month, I am not sure what would transpire,” Wilson said. “At this point, I’m saying that I am depending on my local association, the Ministry of Health, and by extension, the Jamaican Government to make the decision, based on the information that they are going to receive, in the best interest of the safety of our Jamaican people.”