Baggies fans urged to stay at home after Sandwell spike in coronavirus cases
Health bosses in Sandwell are pleading with Albion fans not to celebrate in large groups if their team wins promotion to the Premier League tonight.
Dr Lisa McNally, director of public health, made her plea before the crunch match between West Bromwich and Queen Park Rangers – imploring fans to stay at home to avoid spreading Covid-19.
Her call comes after the rate of infection in the borough spiked with dozens of new cases being reported.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr McNally said: “This is really important for the borough, especially if West Brom is promoted.
"It is going to be amazing but we are at a really difficult time; we are seeing really high rates of infection of Covid-19 in Sandwell.
“So please don’t find yourself in a crowd close to other people leaving yourself vulnerable to infection that could make you ill, but also also makes those close to you very ill.”
She added: “I’ll be honest, I am really very nervous.
"We seeing infection rates that are 10 times higher than where they were a few weeks ago and if we find ourselves in a busy place with lots of other people we are taking a serious risk.”
West Brom will be promoted to the Premier League should they beat QPR at The Hawthorns, or match Brentford's result, down to a draw.
Fulham remain in with a chance to steal the final automatic promotion place, but would require Albion to lose to QPR and Brentford to draw or lose to Barnsley, whilst also beating Wigan themselves.
Meanwhile a third of the workforce at CBS Packaging in West Bromwich has been "affected" by the disease.
