Arsenal announce that their academy has been closed after positive tests for COVID-19
After a positive COVID-19 test, Arsenal have revealed that they’ve shut their Hale End Academy for the time being in order to do a deep clean. This comes after one member of their staff tested positive for the coronavirus with six others also placed in self-isolation following the positive test.
On the same day that Kieran Tierney was forced into a two week period of self-isolation after coming into contact with Stuart Armstrong, Arsenal announced that their academy has been closed. The Gunners were forced to take action after a member of staff from their Hale End Academy had tested positive and placed in self-isolation. Not only that it has seen six other staff members placed into quarantine with the academy closed for deep cleaning to check and see who else came in contact.
The club confirmed the same and revealed that they will now go through a thorough check with the help of CCTV cameras to see if anyone else came in contact with the staff member who tested positive. Not only that, the club also confirmed that while the academy has been closed, any decisions on re-opening will be made after that. The statement from the club further confirmed that neither their men's or women's first teams have been affected by the positive test.
"We can confirm that a member of staff from our Hale End Academy has tested positive for Covid-19. The positive test result arrived at 5pm today and the member of staff immediately left the site to self-isolate. As a consequence, six other members of staff are now self-isolating and we have initiated track and trace for the entire site. We are working through our CCTV and attendance records on site in order to continue the track and trace process," Arsenal said in a statement.
"Our Hale End Academy will now be closed on Thursday 8 October for deep cleaning. After Thursday, we will review our coaching plans at Hale End accordingly and will keep all staff, parents and young players fully informed. The health and safety of everyone on all our sites is our paramount concern. No members of our men's or women's first team squads have been affected."