Canada’s Hockey Team Play Entire Olympic Match With Masks On After Delayed Covid-19 Tests

Final evening, the Canadian girls’s hockey staff performed their Olympic hockey match towards the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) whereas sporting N95 masks.

Shortly earlier than the sport, all gave the impression to be regular with each groups taking heat ups collectively on the ice. However Staff Canada didn’t seem for the beginning of the sport with a perplexed ROC staff ultimately leaving the ice too after officers introduced a one hour delay until puck drop. When the groups did emerge, they and on-ice officers had been sporting N95 masks. Because the match went on, extra particulars emerged indicating that the Canadian staff had not obtained ROC’s Covid-19 testing outcomes earlier than the beginning of the sport and had declined to begin earlier than this.

The ROC staff had 6 gamers on Covid-19 protocols simply final week and each groups got here to an settlement that N95 masks could be worn on the ice to permit the sport to go forward. The check outcomes reportedly came back by the third interval, that means the ROC and officers eliminated their masks. The Canadian staff stored theirs on, doubtlessly as a result of ahead Emily Clark being faraway from the sport after warmups, reportedly as a result of a late, inconclusive Covid-19 check outcome.

Indoor ice rinks could also be high-risk environments for Covid-19 transmission as a result of temperature gradients between the air and the ice that means droplets and aerosols can dangle within the air above the ice floor. On the finish of December, the boys’s World Juniors hockey event was cancelled just some days into the occasion following outbreaks on a number of groups and the women’s under 18 event as a result of be in Sweden in early January was additionally pre-emptively known as off.

Claims that masks cease folks getting sufficient oxygen and might trigger carbon dioxide poisoning are obviously unfaithful and simply debunked. Hockey is an extremely intensive cardiovascular sport, with the athlete’s coronary heart charges continuously reaching 85-90% of most efficiency. Commentary through the match on Canada’s nationwide broadcaster indicated that the Canadian staff had beforehand educated with masks on and this was proof as gamers gave the impression to be largely unbothered by having to put on them.

This was mirrored within the staff’s efficiency as 2 targets within the first 3 minutes of the sport ultimately led to a dominant 6-1 victory, together with a event first for Captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Canada will meet arch rivals and joint gold medal favorites the U.S. on Monday evening Jap time.

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