Study suggests that there isn't a "high risk" of contracting covid-19 in football
The analysis suggests that football is not a high-risk mode of respiratory exposure for the transmission of COVID-19, corroborating the classification advanced by the Directorate-General for Health in Guideline 036/2020 of 25th of august as a “medium risk” modality. This is one of the main conclusions of a study published in the magazine Sensors, that included the participation of Bruno Gonçalves and Hugo Folgado, researchers at the University of Évora (UÉ).
The Professors of the Department of Sport and Health of the School of Science and Technology at UÉ, Bruno Gonçalves and Hugo Folgado, both researchers at the Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), collaborated in this study, also involving researchers from the University of Porto, University of Beira Interior and Nova University of Lisbon, to monitor the dynamics of a football game in order to analyze the risk of respiratory exposure and transmission of COVID-19.
The first measure of respiratory exposure, calculated for each individual, was based on the time spent at a distance of less than 2 meters in relation to the other individuals. The second measure, on the other hand, was calculated, adding to the first measure, the time of exposure to the “cloud” of respiratory droplets formed by the movement of other individuals.
The results of the study indicate that this analysis methodology can be used to assess respiratory exposure resulting from interpersonal contact and the consequent risk stratification of the practice and competition of different sports or physical activities, contributing to the planning of different activities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bruno Gonçalves, says that this study “was a collaboration that brought together professionals from the sports and public health sciences, two areas of knowledge with the same purpose” and whose results “demonstrate that football does not seem to be a high risk activity for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2".
The results of the study also point out "that this methodology can be used from now on not only in competitions, but also in training sessions, in the event of the need to track the contacts of a suspected or positive case of COVID-19" adds the professor at UÉ.
The study is available here.
