3 Fiorentina players test positive for coronavirus

As Fiorentina prepares to return to training at the Centro Davide Astori on Friday, 8 May, all members of the squad and staff have undergone tests to to ensure that they don’t have coronavirus. The Viola announced today that 6 people—3 players, 3 staff—came up positive and have been sent to quarantine. The rest of the group will reconvene for their first training in months tomorrow morning.

It’s not a huge surprise that several people have tested positive so far; ahead of a planned resumption next week, the top two tiers of German football have seen 10 positive cases among 1,724 tests, and Italy was hit harder by the pandemic than Germany, so it stands to reason that the former would see higher numbers.

The only three Serie A clubs that have publicly admitted to positive tests are Fiorentina, Torino, and Sampdoria. That’s not because they’ve been hit harder than anyone else; it’s because they’re being more open with the results, which is actually pretty refreshing. From what we’ve heard, all 6 people affected for the Viola are asymptomatic, so there’s no huge concern for the rest of the organization’s immediate safety.

We don’t know which players or staff have been affected yet, and we’re not going to work too hard to find out, as nobody should have their medical history disclosed without their permission. We know that Dušan Vlahović, Germán Pezzella, and Patrick Cutrone have already been infected and recovered, for what it’s worth.

It still seems pretty wild that teams are going back to training right now, even with some serious medical precautions in place and a commitment to social distancing. After all, Tuscany (and the rest of Italy) are still dealing with all the scary stuff; it’s a strange feeling to see soccer happening in the midst of all this, but I guess it’s a good step.