One positive, two negatives: why is Žalgiris free and the footballers isolated?

Last Thursday night, Kaunas Žalgiris issued a message that J. Lauvergne was infected with COVID-19.

“On Thursday morning, Žalgiris received a message that the test responses from all team members are negative. However, just before the team began its trip to Russia, a revised message was received that it was he had produced an error in the response of J. Lauvergne’s test and the test is positive, “Žalgiris reported a week ago.

Still, the next day it became clear that it could be a mistake, as another test by J. Lauvergne on Friday showed no infection.

Finally, a third test and another negative answer.

This supposedly allowed J. Lauvergne to return to the lineup and travel with his team to Belgrade, where Žalgiris defeated team Crvena zvezda on Tuesday.

A very similar situation happened in the Lithuanian soccer team, when on October 5 the federation announced that Dominykus Barauskas had been diagnosed with a coronavirus infection. The player was immediately isolated, as was the entire Vilnius Knights team, in whose ranks the defender competed on October 2.

The next day it was reported that D. Barauskas’ repeat test was negative. Then, the footballer had a blood test that showed that the player was not sick or had a coronavirus.

However, both D.Barauskas and the entire “Knights” team are still in self-isolation.

“After Dominik did a blood test and showed him that the player was not sick or had a coronavirus, we expected the team’s self-isolation to go away completely, but it didn’t.” 15 minutes said Meda Piečytė, “Knights” director of communication and marketing. “The NVSC stated that it would only be considered healthy if two repeat PCR tests were performed for coronavirus infection at least 14 days after diagnosis and both were negative at daily intervals.”

So why, after two consecutive repeated negative tests, J. Lauvergne returned to Kaunas team “Žalgiris”, which was not found in self-isolation, and the “Knights” with D.Barauskas were still closed at home?

15 minutes She approached the National Public Health Center (NVSC) with questions, which were answered by Justina Petravičienė, specialist in the Internal Administration Division.

“Regarding the case in the basketball club” Žalgiris “, the fact that a positive test has been confirmed for one person, we only know from the media,” said the NVSC specialist.

It turns out that the laboratory that confirmed J. Lauvergne’s infection did not report it to the NVSC, so neither the Frenchman nor the team found themselves in self-isolation.

Labs are required to provide information by decision of the state operations manager.

How 15 minutes The “Žalgiris” spokesman Almantas Kiveris said, the club itself decided to isolate the Frenchman, having received knowledge from the laboratory, which, according to A. Kiveris, made a “human error”, indicating a positive result of his test.

“This means that the NVSC could not make any decisions regarding the ‘release of people from isolation,” explained J. Petravičienė.

An NVSC representative noted that the epidemiological study is carried out when information is received from the laboratory about positive test results.

“Laboratories are required to provide information by decision of the operations manager at the state level, whether private or not,” said the NVSC specialist.

In Knights’ case, NVSC received information from the laboratory about the infection and the test results were entered into the system.

“Upon receiving such information, an epidemiological investigation was initiated, the exposed persons were identified, isolated and investigated”, 15 minutes in the answer provided.

The Knights asked the NVSC for an exemption and an end to self-isolation for high-performance athletes.

“However, the NVSC has indicated that it is not possible to apply the exception to leave the place of self-isolation according to the order, since we are a local case and non-returnees who have had contact with COVID.” 15 minutes M.Piečytė said.

So the question is simple: why did the laboratory inform Žalgiris about the positive test for J. Lauvergne, but did not provide such information to the NVSC according to the established procedure?

15 minutes found that Žalgiris basketball players were investigated by the private Antėja laboratory.

On Wednesday 15 minutes contacted laboratory staff, but promised referral to responsible person was not received. No calls were answered Thursday.

At the beginning of this Monday, the Minister of Health, Aurelijus Veryga, made a new decision. From now on, Lithuanian teams playing in international tournaments will not have to isolate themselves when they return from abroad, just as they will not have to isolate themselves if the team has a positive COVID-19 test.

Therefore, if any man from Žalgiris becomes infected with the virus, the whole team will not be isolated.

But the quarantine threatens, for example, Lithuanian football or other sports teams, because they do not participate in international tournaments, for which separate international rules on the management of the COVID-19 disease have been established and approved.

“Together with the LFF and League A, we will continue to work with the Government and SAM to ensure that self-isolation, when one or more members of a senior sports team becomes infected, does not apply to all remaining members: athletes, coaches, staff and others involved in the training and management of matches. process, participating not only in international championships and tournaments, but also in Lithuania “, – assured the head of communication and marketing of” Knights “.