Pedro López, coordinator for the Valencia CF Medical Department, explained on Thursday the measures taken by the club in light of the current COVID-19 outbreak in an interview with VCF Media Radio.

“Valencia CF have been taking measures and anticipating situations for a long time. We have always been in contact with Public Administrations and Health and Epidemiology departments. We have been trying to keep a flow of constant information with them, for them to give us recommendations. Since this crisis started, long before the first cases even appeared in Spain or Valencia, we already started to anticipate measures that could possibly be put in place,” he explained.

“There are very logical measures applied at the Academy. If we consider that there will be no competition, we also understand that it is especially risky for children to have an accumulation of people and parents bringing children to the facilities. As all of the measures by those responsible for public health are aimed at trying to mitigate or reduce crowds or large groups of people, then we understood that we also had to take the same measures - always ensuring the health of both our kids at the VCF Academy and their parents, our coaches and all the staff who also work within the club.”

The early work by the medical staff at Valencia CF has been essential.

"The first measures were to be clear about what the disease consisted of, what the transmission situation was like, and what the risks were. Then we had to find out the contagion and epidemiological situation, both in Spain and internationally. Later, we began to work on the opinion of the experts, what measures should be taken, both jointly and on our own, to try to logically safeguard the health of our people -not only those at the club but also our fans.”

“If someone has had a fever or cough, we have always said that they should contact public health and call the emergency number of 112, then stay at home. We continue to recommend the same things: Practice good hygiene, avoid unnecessary contact such as handshakes… measures that we have already been implementing for a long time. We have also asked for a greater control over access to places where a lot of people may gather. These measures are aimed to benefit everybody; not only players, coaches and managers, but of all of us who make up Valencia CF and the fanbase.”