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With Utah’s COVID-19 case counts continuing to climb amidst a stark lack of leadership from state government officials, it was perhaps only a matter of time before it started affecting Real Salt Lake.
A report from The RSL Show’s Jake Simons indicates that there has been an outbreak among staff at the Zions Bank Real Academy, which houses the team’s training facilities.
A statement from the club indicated that one player has tested positive, and that “all other first-team players and staff have returned consecutive negative tests.”
Getting word from multiple sources that #RSL are dealing with a relatively large COVID outbreak amongst staff and players, specifically the staff at the ZBRA. The family of some staff members are also now infected and the team is working to get rapid tests for players.
— Jake (@bjakesimons) November 6, 2020
Sources have not been able to confirm whether or not any players are amongst the confirmed cases.
— Jake (@bjakesimons) November 6, 2020
@realsaltlake statement of course comes through right as I hit send. pic.twitter.com/TF0oOcq1JY
— Jake (@bjakesimons) November 6, 2020
The extent of the case count as reported in the statement is ONLY cases that relate to the first team "bubble"
— Jake (@bjakesimons) November 6, 2020
The reports I'm getting indicate that staff not specifically tied to the first team have contracted COVID and some of their families have also tested positive. #RSL
Real Salt Lake is currently scheduled to play against Sporting Kansas City on Sunday. RSL has already been eliminated from the playoffs, but the match could have significant seeding implications for the rivals.
We will see if the match is played — but whatever the case, we hope that those affected, including staff and their families, remain as safe and well as possible, and that those infected are able to recover quickly.