[News] Flames have 20 players, 3 coaches, and 10 support staff in COVID protocol

[agulati]

Toronto Marlies morning skate was cancelled due to precautionary reasons. Might be covid related as well.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Omicron is what has changed............what am I missing? The whole point is this seemingly far more contagious variant has likely arrived, and I think the point the poster was making is the reason we'd find it in NHL teams is that they are proactively testing asymptomatic people every 3 days. In the general population you don't get tested if you don't have symptoms (or another reason to test, like close contact).

I would hope if it is Omicron, we'd know that. In Alberta they are testing everyone for it who gets tested. I'd assume the NHL tests capture it. There are 50 cases in Alberta, and they haven't mentioned they were Omicron. I mean, maybe it is, but at this point the assumption from what we know is that it isn't Omicron.

[agulati]

Not sure why the league doesn’t take a pause now. With the way cases are hitting teams, it makes sense to take a pause and then get back to it post christmas.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Abstract

Hopefully not, that would mean our first game back after nearly 3 weeks off would be the Oilers.

This outbreak is not going to be contained to the teams just now reporting cases. Chances are, in the next three weeks, the Oilers (amongst other teams) are going to be reporting a high number of cases and there will be cancellations across the NHL.

Hopefully, that isn't the case but if omicron is doubling every two to three days, a ####load of cases will develop in three weeks.

[GhostCookie]

Originally Posted by agulati

I don’t see how we play before the Christmas break. This might not be the last of the cases either.

Who's left to get it? The dog?

[Flamescuprun2018]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I would hope if it is Omicron, we'd know that. In Alberta they are testing everyone for it who gets tested. I'd assume the NHL tests capture it. There are 50 cases in Alberta, and they haven't mentioned they were Omicron. I mean, maybe it is, but at this point the assumption from what we know is that it isn't Omicron.

Delay in full gene sequencing may be the reason. The rapid spread within the team despite full vaccinations sounds very much like Omicron. The no or very mild symptoms reported so far also support such.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by agulati

Not sure why the league doesn’t take a pause now. With the way cases are hitting teams, it makes sense to take a pause and then get back to it post christmas.

I would think there's a bit of logistics and planning to just stop games for all teams. Like hitting the brakes on a cruise ship. Though at a critical mass it becomes easier than for individual teams.

[burn_this_city]

This is pretty wild, pro sports starting to look like the canary in the coal mine.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

This is pretty wild, pro sports starting to look like the canary in the coal mine.

Yup... when the leagues shut down originally when all this started 17 years ago, it's what made a lot of people start to take it more seriously.

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

This is pretty wild, pro sports starting to look like the canary in the coal mine.

Yup, the second any league pauses all games.. Panic will ensue like March 2020

[Reggie Dunlop]

The whole league is shut down by the end of the week. I'm calling it.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by shadowlord

Incredible that the Canucks are screwing this up a second time in a year.

They had the initial test come back negative and then a second PCR come back positive. As soon as they got the positive they pulled him. What would you have them do?

[agulati]

Originally Posted by GhostCookie

Who's left to get it? The dog?

Not Harvey, hopefully.


That post was from yesterday, and I guess 7 more players, 3 coaches and 7 support staff would be the answer.

[FlamesAreOne]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Are they all asymptomatic? That would be very encouraging.

Yes.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

This is pretty wild, pro sports starting to look like the canary in the coal mine.

Depends. Nobody sick. 2-3 weeks from now they have moved on.

The problem is it will take some time to move through the league, so we could be looking at a lot of cancelations.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by agulati

Not sure why the league doesn’t take a pause now. With the way cases are hitting teams, it makes sense to take a pause and then get back to it post christmas.

Just delaying the inevitable. If they pause now, more players will get infected as soon as they open. Plus, the players will be wandering around everywhere during the pause.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Azure

Depends. Nobody sick. 2-3 weeks from now they have moved on.

The problem is it will take some time to move through the league, so we could be looking at a lot of cancelations.

This feels similar to what happened when covid initially hit. The good thing is they are all vaccinated and asymptomatic so far, but it might not be a bad time to set a reset as they work out new temporary protocols/rules instead of waiting for it to make its way through all the teams.

The factor could also be lost revenue though because who knows how certain provincial or state governments react. There might be restrictions in a month or two, and they want to squeeze as many dollars as they can.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by agulati

Not sure why the league doesn’t take a pause now. With the way cases are hitting teams, it makes sense to take a pause and then get back to it post christmas.

Agreed. This seems like the perfect time to pause things for at least a couple of weeks. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by blankall

Just delaying the inevitable. If they pause now, more players will get infected as soon as they open. Plus, the players will be wandering around everywhere during the pause.

That’s a good point. Players will continue to get exposed. All the pause does is remove training and playing as a vector of spread, which can be valuable. Reduces a potential outbreaks too

[Dude Where's Makar?]

Originally Posted by GhostCookie

Who's left to get it? The dog?

Could be wrong, but from what I've read:
Tkachuk, Kylington, Coleman, Backlund, Dube, Vladar.