The Premier League was rocked by the news of positive COVID-19 test for Mikel Arteta and Callum Hudson-Odoi in recent days, forcing the league to spring into action. While this weekend's fixtures were supposed to go ahead as planned, no football will now be played until April 3rd at the earliest.
Both individuals are believed to be coping well with the virus, but it has led to the clubs involved taking measures to ensure it does not spread further. Members of the first team at both Arsenal and Chelsea have gone into self-isolation.
It goes beyond that. Irishwoman Lisa Fallon, who is a coach at the Chelsea ladies team, said that the whole club has gone into lockdown after Hudson-Odoi was confirmed to have the coronavirus. Speaking on RTÉ 2fm's Game On, Fallon said that she will remain in Dublin until at least next week:
There's no games, there's no training. The men's first team is in complete lockdown, they're in full isolation and all the staff are too.
It's slightly different for the women's set-up because we've literally just come out of an international break so al our players have been away.
They've been in various parts of the world playing for their countries. We've also had staff who've been away watching games as well. As a group everyone was going to reconvene on Thursday. The situation changed.
The men's first team building was being cleaned. I'm in Dublin at the moment and I think that will remain the case until at least next week.
While the Premier League is scheduled to resume on April 3rd, it is likely the hiatus will be extended further. That leaves the next few weeks looking rather uncertain.
It is much the same in the women's game, with an international break having just taken place. Many of the players involved have yet to return to their clubs and is unclear when they will be able to do so.
Training won't be reinstated as such time is deemed to be safe.
But even from a coaching perspective, and a strength and conditioning perspective, this is completely unprecedented.
There are no guidelines in a situation like this where a season has been suspended and you're trying to think, 'how do we keep them fit if the season starts again?'.
For me the biggest thing at the moment is leadership, making sure that players feel comfortable, and that everybody understands that putting their health and their family's health first is the most important thing.
It is more than football now, it is more than sport. This is about people.
