On Friday, VfB Stuttgart announced Orel Mangala’s Corona infection. Did he test false positive?
The personnel blows that Stuttgart have to put away in their second Bundesliga season are plentiful. To make matters worse, on Friday Orel Mangala became the sixth professional in ten days to test positive for Corona. A blow for VfB, who, however, have hope that the midfielder may have been the victim of a false test result.
“He tested positive once and negative once,” explains Sven Mislintat. “So it is possible that he is a false positive.” On Monday, a third PCR test should bring more clarity. “If this one is negative, we’ll see what the talks with the health authorities reveal,” says the sports director, hoping that the national player will be allowed to leave his domestic isolation and join the team.
Mislintat does not want to dramatise the sudden appearance of the many Corona cases in the team. “We have been dealing with it since the outbreak of the pandemic and we are dealing with it differently now than we did then. I believe, even though I don’t know any studies on it, that you would also find many positive cases among the normal population if you test in the numbers we do.” In the private sector, after all, where there are no symptoms, there are no tests – and therefore no positive results.
“A few” VfB pros not vaccinated
Mislintat is “satisfied with the vaccination rate at VfB because it is absolutely representative” and “above the national average”. The sporting director does not want to overstress the issue: discussions have been held again and again, all arguments have been exchanged and are on the table. That’s why he doesn’t want to permanently “get on the team’s nerves”, even if there are still “a few players” who don’t want to be vaccinated.
“At some point it’s good,” Mislintat thinks. “We have a democratic principle in our society. There is no compulsory vaccination. If the arguments are not convincing enough for one or the other, then we have to accept that. “
