The Vancouver Canucks’ COVID-19 outbreak started with one player. Adam Gaudette was on the ice for practice with the rest of the team when the previous day’s tests came back identifying him as positive for the coronavirus.
It snowballed from there until eventually 22 players plus coaches, one support staff, and family members tested positive.
It should have been a warning sign for the NHL that there is a significant need to change their protocols for dealing with the ongoing pandemic and that they need to be more cautious. What is currently happening in Calgary suggests they haven’t learned anything from what the Canucks went through.
Josh Leivo, the former Canuck and current member of the Calgary Flames, has tested positive for COVID-19. The NHL still plans for the Flames to play their Friday night game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Leivo was on the ice with his teammates for Thursday’s practice, one that was evidently up-tempo. His positive test came from Thursday morning’s tests prior to practice. In other words, Leivo had COVID-19 while practicing with his teammates on the ice with no masks.
That’s the exact situation that caused the rapid spread of the virus through the Canucks. Gaudette was on the ice with his teammates for practice while positive for COVID-19.
To the Flames’ credit, they did cancel their morning skate on Friday, so perhaps they did learn at least one thing from the Canucks’ situation. The Canucks took their morning skate after Gaudette’s positive test, as the NHL’s protocols did not mandate them staying off the ice. It’s likely that exacerbated the spread.
Like the Canucks did prior to postponing multiple games, the Flames will rush order the results of Friday morning’s tests. If they have more positive results, their game may yet be cancelled. Even if they don’t have more positive results, that doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. The incubation period for COVID-19 is anywhere from 1 to 14 days, with the average around 5 to 6 days.
That means Flames players could test negative but still have COVID-19. If they’re presymptomatic — if they develop symptoms in the future — they could even be contagious now and potentially spread the virus to the Canadiens.
NHL denies evidence of team-to-team transmission
This isn’t an idle concern. A similar situation unfolded for the Buffalo Sabres, who had a COVID-19 outbreak after playing the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils had one player, Travis Zajac, go on the COVID protocol list, then played the Sabres the next day. The following day, another Devils player, Kyle Palmieri, went on the COVID protocol list but the Devils and Sabres still played that night. The next day, four more Devils went on the protocol list followed by a dozen more the following week.
It seems clear that the Sabres caught the virus from the Devils during their two games against them, something that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly denied, saying, “We have seen no definitive evidence of cross-team transmission.”
Perhaps the Flames and the Canadiens will be lucky. They might not be dealing with a more infectious variant the way the Canucks did. Perhaps Leivo will be the only player who tests positive. But the NHL has repeatedly used the phrase “abundance of caution” when talking about the steps they’ve taken to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the NHL was serious about being abundantly cautious, they would preemptively postpone Friday’s game between the Flames and Canadiens rather than waiting on the results of Friday’s tests.
The NHL's COVID protocol failed the Canucks; here's hoping it doesn't fail the Flames and Canadiens too.
