The Costa Rican Football Federation has hit back at claims in the Jamaican media that it used two players who were COVID-19 positive against the Reggae Boyz in the World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night.
The Central Americans won the game 1-0 courtesy of Joel Campbell’s 62nd-minute strike.
But Head of the Jamaica Football Federation’s Medical Committee, Dr. Guyan Arscott, confirmed to the Jamaican media on Wednesday night that the Costa Rican delegation, which arrived on the island on Tuesday night, had returned six positive results following their obligatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests done shortly after arrival.
Dr. Arscott claimed that three of the six were players, two of whom played in the game, should have been isolated as per Jamaica’s and CONCACAF’s COVID protocols.
Costa Rica’s response
On Thursday, the Costa Rican Federation issued a statement claiming it had done nothing wrong. It claimed to have the blessing of FIFA, through the Match Commissioner Allan James of Grenada, to have the two players participate in the game.
“The Jamaican federation stated in the weeks prior to the match that due to restrictions by local authorities, the entire delegation had to take a PCR test upon arrival in Jamaica. These tests were conducted on Tuesday night, and the results were available on Wednesday afternoon. In these tests, one player and three administrative staff of the delegation were positive as new cases, in addition to two players recently recovered from COVID-19.
“The new positives were immediately isolated, and as indicated by the protocol, these results were communicated to the FIFA delegation and the local authorities. At the same time, all the documentation was presented proving that the other two players who tested positive were recovered cases with fewer than 25 days of having had a positive result for COVID-19.
“Therefore, based on existing regulations and based on the documentation presented by the Costa Rican Football Federation, both FIFA and CONCACAF authorized the participation of said players.”
The statement continued: “Once the first half of the match against Jamaica had passed, the officials of the Medical Commission of the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) stated that their recommendation was that the players do not participate. This position did not come from any health authority in the country or from a soccer authority.”
The Costa Rican Federation had also made it clear that all members of its delegation had returned negative test results on Monday while in Mexico.
Jamaican authorities confirm that COVID protocols were ignored
But the Jamaican authorities have said that from the moment the test results came back, the Costa Rican delegation was told to isolate all three players and the administrative staff.
They contend that there were ongoing meetings before and during the first half of the match, including public health officials.
It was not until the Ministry of Health intervened and ordered that the Jamaica and CONCACAF protocols for positive cases be enforced that the two substitutions were made at halftime.
The visitors said the two players were recovered cases and their positive tests were only because of them having had the virus a few weeks ago.
But the Jamaican authorities were told to treat them as new infections, especially after having returned negative results in Mexico a few days prior.
JFF president Michael Ricketts has confirmed that his federation has filed a report to FIFA for a ruling. “I just had a discussion with our medical personnel, and a report was sent last night (Wednesday) to FIFA outlining what would have transpired. I think the match commissioner would have some questions to be answered because he was made aware of the situation, did not act on it, but certainly, a report has been sent to FIFA, and we are actually waiting on them to respond to what we would have sent.”
