Hundreds face isolation after five outbreaks in team sports

Ottawa Public Health is investigating multiple situations of COVID-19 transmission related to organized team sports.

Ottawa's medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, said Wednesday the public needs to work to reduce the risk of spreading the virus if they choose to participate in these “higher-risk” activities.

Etches said OPH had confirmed five outbreaks — at least two people, players or coaches, on the same team, testing positive where the cases have an epidemiological link — involving 28 infections, and “hundreds and hundreds” of high-risk contacts (meaning, people who have to self-isolate and eventually go for testing).

“In those hundreds of high-risk contacts there are more vulnerable people, older adults and others, so it is concerning,” Etches said.

Her team is investigating nine other potential outbreaks among sports teams. Transmission or exposure might have occurred before, during or after training, in locker rooms, team play, car pools, during shared meals, by way of staff involved with more than one team, and in situations where people weren't wearing masks, Etches said.

Asked about specific sports, Etches said hockey “is standing out as the one where we've detected the highest number of people testing positive right now,” but she noted that transmission is possible in any kind of sport where there's close contact and no masking.

The sports team outbreaks date back to the end of September and early October, Etches said. The province limited organized team sport activity in its modified Stage 2 restrictions, applied to several COVID-19 hot spots, including Ottawa, on Oct. 10.

Under the new rules, team sport activities are limited to training — but still, this would be considered a “higher-risk activity,” Etches said. People should use their best judgment and if they choose to participate, practise basic precautions such as mask-wearing, physical distancing, handwashing, and staying home when sick.

According to OPH, other precautions that can reduce the COVID-19 risk include minimizing social gatherings before and after sport, avoiding carpooling with non-household members and sharing sports gear, participating on just one team, disinfecting equipment between uses, staying outside, and wearing a mask “unless engaged in strenuous athletic activity.”

OPH is working with local sports organizations to keep them aware of the situation and the preventive measures they should be taking.

Meanwhile, Canada Post is pleading with Canadians to do their holiday shopping early this year, as increased online shopping combined with the normal last-minute holiday parcel surge “could result in significant parcel volumes and overwhelm capacity.”

The postal service said it has a plan for the peak of the holiday season, including thousands of new seasonal employees, weekend deliveries and extended post office hours in many locations.

In those hundreds of highrisk contacts there are more vulnerable people, older adults and others, so it is concerning.

DR. VERA ETCHES, Ottawa' s chief medical officer of health