After one of the Danish Heroic players tested positive for coronavirus, the entire team will have to hold IEM Cologne under quarantine conditions. The announcement was made by tournament organizers midweek as all players underwent routine testing after an initial three-day quarantine upon arrival in Cologne. Heroic representatives did not disclose who exactly was infected, noting that they expect the community to respect the privacy of players. At the same time, they reported that all players and team staff are feeling well and have no symptoms of the disease, so Heroic decided not to interrupt participation in the tournament.
According to a statement from ESL, the player in question has not had contact with other teams. Thus, the rest will not be affected by the restrictions, and Heroic, in accordance with current safety rules, will participate in matches while in a hotel room. However, they will still use a LAN connection, which means that the difference in ping will not create an advantage for any of the participants.
Heroic – not the only team that had to play matches from the hotel due to quarantine restrictions. In particular, Spirit were forced to play two play-in matches while in self-isolation due to the fact that they arrived late to the competition.
