diablo26 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:27 am
https://chicago.suntimes.com/high-schoo ... s-covid-19
Wisconsin study: High school sports have not spread the coronavirus
Our kids deserve better... maybe stop interstate play - hotel stay hockey travel, but no reason to suck the life out of our kids - my best friend is an acting pediatric surgeon (works at a nationally renowned Children's Hospital) and backs this article 100% - you say no politics but this all politics
Diablo26... I think we can all agree that none of us wanted this to happen. Some of us might support the decision, but certainly were hoping it could be avoided. Regardless, thanks for sharing the article. It was actually linked to a few weeks back in these forums. Please keep in mind that the survey/study was done on fall sports which, are usually conducted outdoors. Unfortunately, over the last two plus months, hockey has quickly become viewed as one of the riskiest indoor activities/sports. Especially if everyone involved can't be placed in a bubble AND tested on a daily basis (or even two to three times a week basis like the NCAA is requiring). Not sure if you saw this but, here's a paragraph from the article you presented about Madison area schools...
"The Madison Metropolitan School District announced Monday that it will not hold any winter athletics programming through at least Jan. 24. Dane County health officials have outlawed games and competitions for medium- and high-risk sports, including volleyball, soccer, basketball, tennis, football and hockey."
To add to the paragraph above, I present some links to a few other articles that clearly show that the sport is struggling to prevent infections at the rink...
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/norristo ... ckey-teams
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/c ... -1.5786399
Here's a Tweet from the Ottawa Public Health department related to the above article...
COVID has one goal. To spread. Here are the repercussions of ONE source of #COVID19 at an indoor sports practice.
60 people (still rising) tested positive over 18 days.
170+ people needed to self-isolate and 7 outbreaks were declared.
Our actions matter. Please be #COVIDWise
From Vermont...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/us/vermo ... index.html
From New Hampshire...they paused all hockey for at least two weeks back on Oct. 15th.
"CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire is “pausing” all hockey activities in indoor rinks for two weeks following positive COVID-19 tests for 158 people associated with the sport over the last two months, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) and health officials said Thursday."
"Dr. Ben Chan, state epidemiologist, said the cases are from 23 different hockey-related New Hampshire organizations and teams, “and there are additional connections with out-of-state ice hockey organizations.” Chan said people who have acquired the virus through hockey have been associated with, and potentially exposed others, in at least 24 different K-12 schools throughout the state. “This type of spread and exposure to other facilities and organizations within the community increases the risk of introduction and spread of COVID-19 in other settings outside of hockey,” Chan said.
This is in regards to an outbreak between two Tier III Junior teams down south...
https://www.mdjonline.com/news/hockey-g ... bf96f.html
This is from the Northeast/New England area...
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/interstate- ... ral-states
More from New England...
https://www.fosters.com/story/news/coro ... 114252578/
Boston area from Oct. 27 where the governor of Massachusetts paused all hockey through Nov. 7...
https://www.wwlp.com/news/state-politic ... aker-says/
From the article... During a Tuesday press conference, Gov. Charlie Baker and his health chief said their decision was prompted not only by the multiple clusters but also because some adults and coaches stymied the state’s attempts to get a grasp of how far transmission spread.
“There were a number of instances where the team would not hand over the rosters of players, so you didn’t even know who was playing for us to make the contact, or coaches in a couple of instances telling families and the players to not respond to the contact tracers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders told reporters. “Not sharing the rosters so that you can’t make the phone calls is, for us, not acceptable.” Neither Baker nor Sudders identified any specific teams that refused to provide information about its players and who might have had contact with COVID-positive individuals. On several other occasions, team leaders told players that if they were under quarantine, they could not play for their regular team but could play for other teams — a system that is “obviously not quarantine,” Sudders said.
A DPH investigation identified more than 30 COVID clusters linked to youth hockey, Baker said, with at least 110 confirmed cases and 22 more probable cases spread across at least 66 cities and towns. Those numbers are likely “undercounted,” Baker said, “due to the lack of cooperation” that met investigators.
Here's an article from Nov. 18 with video regarding two teams from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) who chose to violate restrictions...
https://globalnews.ca/news/7471173/covi ... -practice/
As the article notes, the entire league is on pause until at least Jan. 1st
Also, both the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) just had to pause all activity due to Covid as the BC Public Health department restricted activity.
And, Calgary shut down all minor/youth sports for two weeks...
https://calgaryherald.com/news/thousand ... -two-weeks
Here's an article regarding the QMJHL...
https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hock ... -outbreaks
Also, all sports except at the professional levels are now on pause for four weeks in the greater Toronto metro area. Hockey in that area of Canada is even bigger than it is here. Yet, they are paused as well.
Finally, here's an article I posted previously regarding a youth tourney in early October in Anchorage, AK
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/10 ... ournament/
For the last few months many here have argued that there hasn't been hardly any positive cases associated with youth or high school level hockey. Both through the summer and into the early fall. My point in including all of these articles from literally all areas of the continent is simply to show that that obviously isn't true. In fact, there is ample evidence that the virus is spreading through hockey specific activity in ways it doesn't through other activities. Our own health department is stating that hockey is associated with the most outbreaks of any sport.
Our players are not the only ones having to sacrifice for the greater good. In fact, almost every other area where hockey is popular is pausing for a significant amount of time. Meaning, strictly from a loss of development standpoint, almost everyone in both the U.S. and Canada is dealing with the same challenges and will be "losing" the same amount.
I think we all understand and agree that the vast majority of players from youth thru college will not experience a severe outcome if infected. Although a part of the discussion, it's more about who they infect at school (if not on-line) or in their homes, or greater community. It's also about the fact our ERs and overall health systems are close to becoming overwhelmed. If we continue to allow activities that both increase virus spread, as well as create non-Covid injury issues that need ER treatment thus stressing our nurses and doctors even more, we only contribute to those challenges.
For those that question the rationale of pausing hockey or any other activity, I simply ask, are all of the various state and provincial health leaders who are recommending these actions wrong? Are they all politically motivated? Don't you think many of them have their own kids, or nieces, or nephews, or cousins that their decisions will negatively affect and, that they would much rather not have to make these recommendations? Again, this sucks and I truly hope it doesn't last any longer than the four weeks currently stated. But, if it does last longer, vaccines are on the way and almost everything points to a return to normal by next fall. Although it might seem like "forever", it's only another 4-6 months. No matter how challenging it might be for our kids and us not to enjoy the game we all love, that challenge won't compare to the one that thousands of people will face that are unfortunate enough to have a serious outcome from this disease. I will say again...the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one... Stay safe everyone and have a great Thanksgiving.