COVID-19 exposure forces baseball association to hit pause
Corner Brook group says there’s no risk to the public or minor players
CORNER BROOK, N.L. — The Corner Brook Baseball Association has put its summer session on hold for at least a few days after learning some staff and executive members were exposed to a positive case of COVID-19.
The group learned of the exposure from Public Health on Tuesday evening and posted a notice on its website Wednesday morning.
The notice says that all the notified close contacts of the positive case, and their families are self-isolating. The close contacts will be tested Wednesday and required to isolate for 14 days from May 15 onwards, no matter the results of their tests.
Jason Mosher is the president of the association. He wouldn’t comment on specifics of the exposure, or the numbers involved due to the privacy of those people.
“We’re lucky that this employee had no contact with the general public whatsoever.
So, that is great,” he said.
“There’s no danger to the general public at this time.”
And the post on the website said there is no risk to minor baseball players, but out of precaution all sessions have been cancelled for the rest of the week.
“We just want time to regroup and get things organized and make sure things are safe for everybody,” said Mosher.
The association had just started its minor summer program, a bit earlier than normal.
“Because of COVID we couldn’t put our full spring program on. So, what we did is we combined spring into summer and didn’t increase our registration (fee). It was kind of a gift to our members that we’re giving you a little extra ball where there was no spring (session) and thanks for sticking with us.
“And then this happens.”
RESTART NEXT WEEK
The association is hoping to restart on May 24. However, this date may change as it follows the processes that are put in place by Public Health and the chief medical officer of health (CMOH).
Mosher said the association is in contact with Sportnl on the matter and was advised on Tuesday to take some time to think about what it wanted to say before putting the information out.
But word got out before that could happen.
And so, the post asks people to be kind and helpful. “Don’t spread rumours and hearsay as we all get through this together,” it read.
The post says the next few days will be very stressful for everyone and the association will continue to work with Public Health, the CMOH, Baseball NL and Sportnl to make sure its baseball family is safe.
“We ask that you respect the privacy of the people and families involved. We will share pertinent information as it becomes available.”
This is not the first time sports groups have been impacted by COVID-19.
In November, members of the Western Kings in the Newfoundland and Labrador Under-18 Major Hockey League had to quarantine after it was learned their team manager had been potentially exposed to COVID-19. There was an outbreak in Deer Lake at the time.
Then in February, the same team had to undergo testing for COVID-19 after a member of the East Coast Blizzard had been potentially exposed to the virus. The two teams had played one game of a weekend series before the exposure was known.
An outbreak in the eastern region at the time resulted in a halt to all sports.