Rooney: footballers were treated as guinea pigs

Elite English footballer Wayne Rooney criticized his country’s government and football leaderships following their response to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The 34-year old player at Derby County FC [Rooney] wrote in his column in the Sunday Times that the past week lacked leadership from authorities.

“For players, staff and their families it has been a worrying week. One in which you felt a lack of leadership from the government and from the FA and Premier League," Rooney said according to BBC.
Additionally, Rooney believes that footballers weren’t treated in the right manner until late last week following the outbreak of COVID-19 [coronavirus] in the English Premier League.
"After the emergency meeting, at last the right decision was made - until then it almost felt like footballers in England were being treated like guinea pigs,” Rooney said, as reported from BBC.
The Premier League announced in an emergency meeting last week the suspension of English football competitions until 3 April at the earliest following.

The decision to suspend England’s top flight football came after Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s manager, was tested positive for COVID-19 [Coronavirus] along with other Premier League players.

Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Wuhan, China on 1 December 2019 around 163,000 people were infected and about 6,050 people died because of the disease.