JFF weighs up travel protocol changes

Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts says that they will be looking to make adjustments to their health protocols for next year to avoid the challenges experienced during the national senior men’s team recent international friendlies against Saudi Arabia last month.

The Reggae Boyz camp was affected by COVID-19 cases for players and staff, and by the late arrival of some players to Riyadh, where the match took place. Additionally, a couple of players were left behind in Saudi Arabia after the second game, on November 17, as they did not produce the negative tests required to be cleared for travel.

Ricketts says while all players have returned to their respective destinations safely, he is aiming to reduce the complications experienced for future matches as they continue to operate in a COVID-19 environment.

“It is part of a process and we really want to make sure that we have learnt from this particular exercise, that we don’t make those mistakes going forward,” Ricketts told The Gleaner.

The first COVID-19 case was among the local contingent that travelled, with the rest of the cases being identified in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, travel was an issue with some players getting to camp late, having to make multiple stopovers.

EXTEND VALIDITY PERIOD

Ricketts says that he would like to see the extension of the validity of COVID-19 tests be extended beyond the 72-hour period.

“One change we would like, for sure, for the life of these results, certainly, be a lot longer than 72 hours,” he said. “Because when you do a test here, it only lasts for 72 hours and that’s three days. If you have not completed your travel in three days, you have to do another test. But we will certainly have further discussions with our medical staff and they will definitely suggest to us some of the changes we could make.”

Dr Alfred Dawes says that the extension of the 72-hour period could be counterproductive.

“[The risk of] extending beyond 72 hours is that you will lengthen the window period where somebody would have a negative test and then develop the disease and be able to spread it,” Dawes said. “So, if somebody is negative and within a day or two they start to show symptoms, or mild symptoms, or they may be one of the 80 per cent who are asymptomatic but can spread the virus, they would be missed completely.”

Jamaica is expected to have a busy 2021, with the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament in July and the World Cup qualifying final round which has now been rescheduled to begin next September. As efforts are made for the approval and distribution of a vaccine, Ricketts says that if it is approved, it would ease the concerns regarding travel for next year.

“We are hoping that there will be some kind of a prophylactic (preventative) treatment by the time we start travelling again,” he said. “Hopefully, that vaccination will be ready and hopefully it will be accepted around the world. Hopefully, it will be effective so they can travel with a level of freedom and fearlessness.”

Dawes says that until the vaccination is finalised, rapid testing must be the norm to safeguard players while they participate in international competition.