Diego Godin recognized this Friday certain oversights within the bubble of the Uruguayan National Team in the last double date of the South American Qualifiers heading to Qatar 2022. In any case, the captain of the Celeste considered in Telemundo unfair criticism received from the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas.
The defender first told how he lives these last few hours after testing positive for the coronavirus: “I left Uruguay with a negative swab, when we arrived in Italy on Wednesday they gave Nández and me a quick swab at the airport and we also gave negative. This Thursday night they gave us another swab and mine tested positive. I feel fine, I had a bit of discomfort, a headache, as if I had the flu. This Friday I was better”, commented Godín.
In the Uruguayan National Team There are already fifteen infections that have occurred in the last week after Matías Viña’s positive was known last Saturday, the first within the bubble of the light blue team. On Monday, three other positives were confirmed (soccer players Luis Suárez and Rodrigo Muñoz, and press secretary Matías Faral), after the game against Brazil on Tuesday, six more cases were confirmed among players and officials, and the outbreak continued to grow even after that footballers arrived in Europe to rejoin the work of their respective teams (as happened with Lucas Torreira and Darwin Núñez, for example).
Asked if he respected the protocol in the National Team, Godín replied: «We were inside a bubble to which we all entered with negative swabs, obviously the virus entered; From the accounts that we obtained, the contagion obviously comes from coexistence in Colombia. It is true that we try to comply with all the protocols and all the details, but like any human being sometimes you are careless and if you are in a group where they tell you that they are all negative, you can be careless”.
Godín was one of those infected in the last double date of the Qualifiers. @Uruguay
In particular, a photo was questioned where soccer players without masks were observed around a stove: «It doesn’t seem fair or it doesn’t seem right that as a result of a photo say things or hypothesize that are not true. The virus was circulating since we were in Colombia and we did not know it, we try to comply with all the protocols and be as careful as possible in all situations. Obviously the contagion is and was, but it was not because we were around a stove, it is a photo where a fire was lit and we chatted, but that is not the origin of the contagion. We don’t get infected by taking that photoit seemed unfair to me to hypothesize about that, ”said the Cagliari footballer, who also stated that the mate was not shared during the days of coexistence with his teammates.
Godín remarked that in the National Team care is even greater than that carried out in the different clubs and explained: «In the national team care is greater than in the clubs because in our teams we go home, each one goes to have dinner and can have a meeting with friends, contact with other people and the next day he goes back to training and sharing costumes, training, etc. The risk of contagion is greater in the club than in the national team. In the National Team we have no contact with the outside world and we are permanently controlled; It happened that until Saturday we were all negative and the virus was circulating inside the bubble without us knowing it”.
The outbreak within the celestial team led to public statements that questioned the actions within the Celeste Complex. Daniel Salinas, highest authority in the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), stated in recent days: “The most perfect protocol when it is violated, is wet letter. So if you follow the best protocol and then break it, we’re toast. We are going to demand the responsibilities and the explanations that we deem convenient. The protocol was, the separation of beds was, Obviously there was some carelessness and some photo uploaded on networks shows it. They were with a little fire, without a mask, without protection”.
Godín commented on these statements: «I do not know if Public Health is based only on a photo to control this issue, if they are based only on the photo it seems very seized with tweezers. How do you know if we share mate or skip the protocol? Obviously the contagion was there but you cannot make a true, concrete and objective hypothesis for a photo. I did not like the minister’s statements at all, nor did I or my colleagues like them because he used words that I did not like”.
The defender added: “Having said this, it is also good to pass on a message to society, because we are public figures and we have a lot of influence over people for better and for worse. So I imagine that the minister, although I did not like his statements, would have used this as a tool to give a message to society for everything that is happening in Uruguay and in the world, to raise awareness”.
“Self-criticism is the first thing we do and we begin to take accounts, to ask ourselves how and when we got infected, where did it escape us, that is the reality, I am not going to tell you that there was no carelessness because in the photo you can see that we are without a mask, and that is an oversight, as in any family one arrives home and is not wearing a mask, but that does not imply that we were infected at the time of the photo”, highlighted Godin.
The soccer player also indicated that after the match against Brazil, the players were released to go to their respective homes, assuming the commitment that they would only leave their homes to go to the airport and return to the countries of their respective clubs. At the same time, Godín commented that he is pending the health of Maestro Tabárez (who at the moment has tested negative for coronavirus) and that the National Team coach is fine.
For his part, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) Ignacio Alonso also spoke in Telemundo and said that when the MSP fine arrives they will appeal it, but that «does not mean that we do not accept responsibility«. Minister Salinas had indicated this Friday that his portfolio would fine the AUF with 500 Readjustable Units for non-compliance with sanitary protocols in the Celeste Complex.
“There is no official notification of a fine, we were only notified that an investigation was being opened and we were given a view of some photos that were published; They did not inform us that the sanction was imposed, we know that we are going to be fined. There are some oversights that have occurred, but we cannot speak of negligence or laziness”, Alonso considered.
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The president of the AUF assured: “The health bubble is so that people do not enter without testing, and so that in case there is a positive it does not spread out. The photo that is insisted on does not have much substance when it comes to the situation. It was said that they are sharing a mate and it is not like that, not even a barbecue was shared because only a stove was lit.
And Godín sentenced: “It is a good time to use this and show that even we who are inside a bubble and being controlled all the time can get infected. It is a wake-up call and an alert for the Uruguayan peopleraise your guard, hot times are coming where it calls to get together with friends, be a little careless, lower your guard; the situation is clearly complicated and it can happen to anyone as it happened to us”.