Coronavirus trounces both teams in ill-fated hockey game - Los Angeles Times

They ranged in age from 19 to 53, weekend warriors who likely grew up playing hockey on ponds, in youth leagues and on high school teams.

Yet despite their combined athleticism and skill, they were no match for the coronavirus.

Five days later, 14 of 22 players had developed symptoms of COVID-19.

Thirteen of these 15 people went on to test positive for a coronavirus infection.

All of those sickened appear to have been infected by a single person who didn’t develop any outward symptoms of COVID-19 until the day after he had suited up for the evening game.

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None of the remaining eight players exhibited symptoms of COVID-19, so none were tested for infection.

For hockey players eager for a chance to lace up their skates, hit the ice and escape the pandemic for a while, the implications are grim.

“The ice rink provides a venue that is likely well suited to COVID-19 transmission as an indoor environment where deep breathing occurs, and persons are in close proximity to one another,” three members of the Florida Department of Health wrote in a report published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of the authors, David Atrubin, identified himself as a hockey player in the Tampa area, ruling out antihockey bias as a likely motive for the finding.

The case highlights several characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that have made it so difficult to control.

How ‘silent spreaders’ are fueling the coronavirus pandemic.

How ‘silent spreaders’ are fueling the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the biggest challenges in trying to contain the coronavirus is that an unknown number of people are spreading it when they don’t even seem sick themselves.

Researchers have found that people infected with the coronavirus appear to be contagious starting roughly 2½ days before their symptoms become evident.

Indeed, one study published in the journal Nature found the peak of this ”viral shedding” to come roughly 18 hours before symptoms set in.

The index patient spread the virus to eight of his 10 teammates, five of 11 players on the opposing team, and the rink staffer.

In that time, each is likely to have spread the coronavirus “silently” to others.

Meanwhile, some of the eight players who never became sick might themselves have harbored the virus and spread it to others under the radar.

The report also underscores a point on which scientists and public health officials have gone back and forth since early in the pandemic: That in the right conditions, the coronavirus appears to spread quite efficiently from one person to another through the air.

That’s especially true when individuals who are not wearing masks are standing close to — or, in the case of hockey, checking, bumping, shouldering and driving to the net in close contact with — other people.

None of the Tampa hockey players wore cloth face coverings during the game or when using their separate locker rooms.

But those are better at guarding against a raised stick or a flying puck than coronavirus particles in the air.

The CDC says the coronavirus can spread through tiny airborne particles after all.

The CDC says the coronavirus can spread through tiny airborne particles after all.

Acknowledging that tiny particles that linger in the air can spread the coronavirus, the U.S.

While so-called “aerosol transmission” has long been a suspected factor in spread, it was not until this month that the CDC acknowledged those particles might be playing a key role in the pandemic.

In that June hockey game, droplets both large and small likely conspired to create a super-spreader event.

Amateur teams typically play three periods that last 15 to 20 minutes each, alternating ice time with jostling against teammates on a bench within a plexiglass enclosure.

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Melissa Healy is a health and science reporter with the Los Angeles Times writing from the Washington, D.C., area.

She’s been at The Times for more than 30 years, and has covered national security, environment, domestic social policy, Congress and the White House.

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