The 2022 Campeonato Carioca football matches will once again have stricter health measures due to the advance of the Covid-19 Ômicron variant in the country.
The new protocol will be officially announced by the Football Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Ferj) in the coming days. However, the CNN managed to advance some information this Friday (14).
Ferj directors, together with the federation’s medical board, are studying which health measures will be adopted so that the Carioca Championship does not further deteriorate the epidemiological scenario of the city of Rio de Janeiro, which already has a positivity rate of 50% for Covid-19.
Among the possibilities to prevent the spread of the virus inside stadiums are the reduction of public capacity during games and the requirement of antigen tests 48 hours before each championship match.
In the final months of 2021, when the city of Rio de Janeiro registered stable epidemiological indicators, the presentation of the vaccination certificate was the only prerequisite for the public to enter the games in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
“Cases have been growing at great speed in the last two weeks, not only because of the higher transmission rate of the Ômicron variant, but also because of the agglomerations that occurred during the holiday season,” he told the newspaper. CNN Professor Márcio Watanabe, postdoctoral fellow in Epidemiology and member of the Institute’s Statistics Department.
“Therefore, I believe that taking balanced measures that avoid greater agglomerations such as football matches are important at this time”, he added.
The Carioca Championship starts on January 26th. Due to a work on the lawn, the Maracanã stadium will not be available until the beginning of March.
The city’s big clubs are expected to play in São Januário and in the Nilton Santos stadium, which has a maximum capacity of 40,000 people.
A CNN contacted the Municipal Health Secretary, Daniel Soranz, who stated that he was not yet aware of the new determinations in the stadiums.
The State Department of Health (SES) did not respond to questions in the report.
Brazilian states harden soccer protocols again
Seeking to contain the advance of Ômicron, at least three Brazilian states have already announced new restrictions on the return of professional football matches in 2022.
The state government of São Paulo has determined a limit of 70% on the occupation of football stadiums from the 23rd, when the Paulista Championship begins.
The governments of Bahia and Pernambuco were even more restrictive. On Monday (10), state governors set a maximum limit of 50% of stadium capacity during local championships.
CBF supports restrictive measures
A CNN also found that the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) will reformulate the health protocols for national competitions in 2022. The idea is to intensify the control of fans’ access to stadiums to prevent the number of contaminations with the new strain in the country from increasing further most.
The president of the National Commission of Football Doctors (CNMF) and member of the CBF committee, Jorge Pagura, highlighted the importance of a more demanding protocol in a scenario of uncertainties brought about by Ômicron. However, he rules out a new stoppage of Brazilian football or the closing of stadiums to fans.
“We ended last year in complete tranquility. But now the scenario has changed and the current protocol no longer works. The CBF will increase the control requirements. In addition to proof, we will once again require negative tests for Covid-19,” said Pagura.
“We have always worked with a living protocol based on science and the protection of those involved. The calendar is maintained by the hour. We didn’t think about withdrawing the public, but that will be discussed later”, he concluded.
Reference: CNN Brasil
