NHL plans to test players daily if games resume
The NHL is the first major North American professional sports league to announce a testing format of players for its potential return to competition after the shutdown over the COVID-19 pandemic. There are screening protocols in place for voluntary workouts and training camp in the hands of individual teams. Deputy Commissioner also said the NHL plans to test all players every day when games start happening.
“We will have a rigorous daily testing protocol where players are tested every evening and those results are obtained before they would leave their hotel rooms the next morning, so we’ll know if we have a positive test and whether the player has to self-quarantine himself as a result of that positive test,” Daly said. “It’s expensive, but we think it’s really a foundational element of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Columbus Blue Jackets captain supports the plan.
“Testing is a must because it’s the only way you’re going to know and feel confident every time you step on the ice that everyone is in the same boat as you and you can play the game to the best of your ability,” Foligno said.
Each test costs approximately $125, the league says, and Commissioner
estimated 25,00035,000 will be needed to get through the playoffs — a price tag, he concedes, of “millions of dollars.” But athletes have plenty of concerns about risking their health to get back to work, and regular testing is something players insisted on.
“You need testing at a level sufficient to be confident that you’re going to be on top of anything which might happen,” NHL Players’ Association executive director said. “If that turns out to be daily, and that’s available, that’s OK. That would be good. If it turns out that that’s not quite what we need and we can get by with a little less, that’s OK.”
Infectious disease expert Dr. of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security isn’t quite sure how often athletes should be tested to ensure they are virus-free. He said testing in German soccer will help other leagues determine the right frequency, which also depends on the type of quarantine and exposure risks players will have.
Daly said one person testing positive for the coronavirus would not necessarily mean another pause for the NHL. Leaguewide testing done daily would allow the isolation of an infected player, coach or staff member before the start of an outbreak.
League and team officials have stressed they would only use thousands of tests if that number does not endanger the supply for the general public.
ETC.
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