HISTORY HAS CURLERS WORRIED ABOUT RETURN
COVID-19 has already been spread through bonspiels, both at pro and amateur levels
In the days leading up to the world women’s curling championship, originally slated for March 14-22 in Prince George, B.C., there was growing concern that people coming in from other countries could bring COVID -19 to the event.
We now know those fears came true, even though the World Curling Federation event was cancelled less than 48 hours before it was supposed to begin.
Brad Askew, a Canadian who is the national curling team coach in the Czech Republic, flew to Canada for the worlds and spent time in Prince George before heading back home five days later, after the cancellation.
The 58-year-old Prague resident, who was born in Moose Jaw, Sask., and raised in Nova Scotia, started to fall ill on the return trip to Europe and tested positive for COVID-19 in the Czech Republic after being rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath.
He believes he caught
COVID -19 on the trip to Canada and was infectious during his time in Prince George.
“I just thought I was jetlagged,” said Askew, who flew from Prague to Amsterdam to Vancouver on his way to Prince George. “I was going around buying groceries, went to the physio office, shook hands with all of them, went to the massage therapy office, went back to the hotel. All the teams were mingling in the foyer of the hotel because the rumour was flying around like crazy that they were gonna cancel the event.”
Askew, now COVID -free, is one of two people involved in the world women’s championship to have tested positive, the World Curling Federation confirmed on Wednesday. The other is a member of the international media.
One can only imagine how the illness might have spread, had the curling event taken place.
“I would have been most contagious when I was there at the hotel,” Askew said. “Luckily the team arrived and they went out for dinner and I was exhausted so I took a take-away and went back to my room and slept big chunks of the next day. In that way I was separate from other people.
“I never did go to the curling rink.”
At least two other curling events taking place in March were hit hard by the virus.
At least 40 of the 73 people who participated in a bonspiel for medical professionals in Edmonton tested positive for the coronavirus.
And at the United States Curling Club Championship in Potomac, Md., at least 20 people contracted the disease, including Sara Shuster, wife of 2018 Olympic gold medallist John Shuster, and 2006 and 2014 Olympian Jessica Schultz.
Meanwhile, Christian Leibbrandt, a resident of the Netherlands who was the World Curling Federation’s chief timer at the world junior men’s and women’s curling championships in Russia in February, died of COVID-19 in mid-April.
Askew feared for his own life as he awaited results of his test in the days after returning from Canada.
“My breathing was shallow, my throat was sore, my back was aching, I lost my sense of smell, just basically, the whole tick list,” Askew said.
“At the worst part, I went to bed one night and I thought, ‘If it’s like this in the morning or any worse, I’m gonna have to call the ambulance and go into hospital again.’ I got just to the edge of that and then it plateaued and started to make its way back.”
Askew said, strangely, he did not ever have a fever and he got through a temperature check without issue when he landed in Prague.
“Eight hours later I could barely walk,” he said.
All this brings us to the concerns many curlers have about the immediate future of their sport. Annual events on Canadian curling’s fall schedule — including the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall, Ont., in September and the Canad Inns men’s, women’s and mixed doubles classics in October and November in Portage, Man., — have already been cancelled and curlers fear there will be many more called off due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.
“I would fall into the worried, pessimistic crowd,” Winnipeg skip Mike McEwen said Wednesday. “Until you get some examples of other sports getting it right and working and starting their season, there’s not too much to be pumped about right now, regarding curling.”
Curling events are always held indoors, in cool environments and in close quarters. They are highly social gatherings, with plenty of customary handshakes and high fives along with a strong tradition of post-game beverages.
Many of those customs will have to change and players may well have to wear masks and play without fans in the stands, but some believe it’s all very doable.
Sportsnet owns the Grand
Slam tour and could conceivably make those tournaments justfor-TV events. However, smaller spiels on the cash tour that need gate receipts and food and beverage sales for revenue would likely not be able to operate.
“It sounds like there is still going to be a pretty hefty list of events to play in,” said Winnipeg ’s Reid Carruthers, McEwen’s teammate.
“It’s too early to be getting negative or worried. We don’t normally start curling until September and I’m looking how things are changing weekly. I’m trying to not get too hung up on the fact that the season may be cancelled at this point.”
Some curlers are feeling fortunate they got through much of the 2019-20 season without getting sick. The Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston, Ont., was completed just a few days before the sporting world was put on hiatus due to the pandemic, but there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 coming out of that event.
“The more you start thinking about us doing the autograph sessions and shaking everybody’s hands and taking all these pictures with people and hanging out at the patch, it’s kinda crazy,” Saskatchewan skip Matt Dunstone said.
“It’s against everything you’re supposed to be doing. We got lucky.”
My breathing was shallow, my throat was sore, my back was aching, I lost my sense of smell, just basically, the whole tick list.