LAFC player tests positive for coronavirus

During Los Angeles Football Club’s game on Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo, the club released a statement announcing an unnamed player has tested positive for coronavirus.

Complying with league rules, the player was retested and so was the team, and after that positive was confirmed, the player was isolated in quarantine, with the rest of the team’s tests coming out negative again. According to MLS practice, if one player tests positive the team can continue to play games as scheduled. If more than one tests positive then games have been postponed, as happened with the Colorado Rapids, who went about a month without games due to a fairly widespread outbreak and had nearly a third of their schedule on the season postponed as a result, most of those games unlikely to be made up.

Here is the full statement from the club:

The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) have learned this evening that a player has been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in testing that was conducted on Tuesday, Oct. 27. All other players and members of the Club underwent testing yesterday and did additional rapid testing prior to the game and have returned consecutive negative test results and do not have symptoms. Tonight’s game vs. the Houston Dynamo is proceeding as scheduled.

Upon receipt of the initial positive result the player self-isolated under a strict and detailed protocol. The player will remain in isolation and will be monitored by the Club’s medical staff.

All MLS players undergo Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests every other day, including the day before each match. The confirmation of a COVID-19 case occurs when a player receives two consecutive positive test results.

According to Kevin Baxter of the LA Times, it is the first positive coronavirus test within the club, and certainly there have been no announced positives previously.

LAFC head coach Bob Bradley was asked for comment on the positive test after Wednesday’s game, a 2-1 win over the Dynamo.

If you’re wondering why the player has not been identified, league policy throughout the coronavirus pandemic has been to not specifically identify people who test positive. If a player, coach or staff member volunteers the information themselves that they have tested positive, then they have that right, but for privacy reasons they are not revealing that information.

So that’s that. For the player who has tested positive, hopefully he is not sick or not particularly sick and recovers well, and of course, here’s hoping no one else in the club, or around town, catches coronavirus as well. As always, wear a mask, socially distance, and wash your hands well.

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