Hockey Massachusetts
Changes Needed In Youth Hockey After COVID-19 Clusters, Baker Says
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The Baker administration is preparing new regulations that will force Massachusetts youth hockey teams to help health experts track potential COVID-19 outbreaks, a step prompted by several teams and coaches obstructing the contact-tracing process in recent weeks, officials said Tuesday.
Indoor ice rinks must remain closed through at least Nov. 7 under a Department of Public Health order
issued last week after state health regulators linked more than 100 cases of the highly infectious coronavirus to ice hockey.
During a
Tuesday press conference, Gov. Charlie Baker and his health chief said their decision was prompted not only by the multiple clusters but also because some adults and coaches stymied the state's attempts to get a grasp of how far transmission spread.
"There were a number of instances where the team would not hand over the rosters of players, so you didn't even know who was playing for us to make the contact, or coaches in a couple of instances telling families and the players to not respond to the contact tracers," Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders told reporters. "Not sharing the rosters so that you can't make the phone calls is, for us, not acceptable."
Neither Baker nor Sudders identified any specific teams that refused to provide information about its players and who might have had contact with COVID-positive individuals.
On several other occasions, team leaders told players that if they were under quarantine, they could not play for their regular team but could play for other teams — a system that is "obviously not quarantine," Sudders said.
"There were a number of instances where the team would not hand over the rosters of players, so you didn't even know who was playing for us to make the contact, or coaches in a couple of instances telling families and the players to not respond to the contact tracers."
Mary Lou Sudders
A DPH investigation identified more than 30 COVID clusters linked to youth hockey, Baker said, with at least 110 confirmed cases and 22 more probable cases spread across at least 66 cities and towns.
Those numbers are likely "undercounted," Baker said, "due to the lack of cooperation" that met investigators.