Maddie Lowy

Hockey Sidelined Again

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Maddie Lowy
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

After months on the sidelines, youth hockey players across the state eagerly laced up their skates in August. Under current youth and amateur sports guidelines, locker rooms operate at 50 percent capacity, only one spectator should attend per player, and players wear masks on the bench. Unlike in MIAA high school sports, players do not wear facemasks while they play, except during faceoffs. 

Unfortunately, these restrictions failed to insulate the hockey community from COVID-19. After several coronavirus clusters were linked to the sport, Governor Baker ordered hockey rinks to close from October 23 until at least November 7. Thirty clusters and at least 110 cases have been traced back to hockey rinks. The number of cases is likely much higher than that, with the Department of Health citing 220 close contacts and 22 probable cases. 

Governor Baker understands the importance of hockey for many Massachusetts families and acknowledges “the shutdown wasn’t welcome news.” However, Baker is not alone in his concern over hockey rinks. State officials in New Hampshire and Vermont enacted similar measures after COVID-19 outbreaks were linked to hockey in their states. 

In New Hampshire, players were welcomed back to the rink on Friday, October 29 under new regulations. Players and coaches in New Hampshire have to test negative for COVID-19 before November 6 to be eligible for play. However, the state’s testing capacity has failed to accommodate the 20,000 members of the hockey community. At testing sites in Manchester, NH, administrators worried that symptomatic patients would not be able to get a test because of the high demand from hockey players. 

Meanwhile, in Vermont, Governor Scott imposed milder restrictions. He ordered that ice rinks not accept new reservations from October 16 until October 30. Existing events, however, were allowed to continue. Scott also asked the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community to “determine if a more aggressive response is needed to prevent further spread of COVID-19 related to activities in indoor skating, hockey and other recreational facilities.” 

  Governor Baker argues the danger does not come from hockey itself. Rather, he worries about interactions between attendees and players off the ice at tournaments. As Baker explains, “these tournaments involve people showing up at a rank at seven or eight o’clock in the morning, playing a series of games over the course of the day, and basically spending more time at the rink with each other, engaged in conversation, sharing food, potentially sharing a drink.” Kevin Kavanagh, executive director of Massachusetts hockey, shares a similar view. He has not heard of confirmed cases from transmission on the ice. Despite such confidence from Kavanagh and Baker, the CDC still labels hockey a “high-risk” sport. 

The stakes are high for keeping hockey rinks safe. Hockey games bring together players from across towns and even states. An outbreak at a tournament has the potential to impact several school districts and communities. With most schools on hybrid schedules, students already have limited time in the classroom. If coaches and players hope to return to the rink, their behavior and protocols have to change. 

Contact tracing is a key strategy to contain the virus and open schools and sports safely. Governor Baker and Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders are disappointed with the lack of cooperation with that effort. In many cases, coaches have refused to share team rosters with contact tracers and even allowed players who should be under quarantine to participate on other teams. The president of Massachusetts Hockey Bob Joyce denounced the failure of teams and coaches, saying “we do not support the obstruction of contact tracing and believe that families, programs and facilities all need to work together to facilitate the process.” For hockey to resume, as so many players hope it will, coaches will have no choice but to participate in contact tracing efforts. Secretary Sudders warns that, under updated guidelines, teams could be banned from play if they fail to share rosters and answer calls about contact tracing.

Beyond restricted contact tracing, state officials have another difficult problem to combat—inconsistency. Although the U.S. Ice Rink Association’s Returning to the Rinks guidelines and state sport regulations help ensure safety, state officials cannot police every rink across the state. Ultimately the burden falls on rink operators and coaches to follow safety protocol, and according to Julie Pryor, a hockey mom from Newton, not all of them do. She explains “the problem is that you play hockey the next day in a different rink, in a different town, and it’s like there’s no pandemic happening. Anybody can go in, nobody’s enforcing the rules.” 

Athletics provide incredible value for children. Young athletes improve their physical health, find an outlet for stress, and form friendships with teammates. Youth sports also yield success in the classroom and workplace. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, children need sports more than ever. Across Massachusetts, most students learn from home at least part-time and lack social interaction. Natalie Duncan shared her disappointment, saying “I’ve been remote and hockey is like my only time out of the house. So it’s going to be hard not playing.” For Natalie and 50,000 other Massachusetts youth hockey players to get back on the ice, cooperation with contract tracing and strengthened safety protocols are key. 

COVID-19 Safety Recommendations

  •  Contact tracing efforts need to be improved, and coaches and parents will be expected to comply and provide rosters
  •  Players and coaches should get tested and quarantine for fourteen days if they are contacted about a potential exposure
  • Players should show up to the rink dressed for the game to limit time in the locker room
  • Social distancing standards and safety protocol should be consistent in all rinks
  • In Vermont, epidemiologist Patsy Kelso warns that the risk of transmission increases when players travel to out-of-state or county games that are high-risk communities for COVID-19. For MIAA high school sports, teams cannot compete with schools in the designated red zones (>8k cases per 100,000 people). Currently, youth hockey does not have those restrictions. 

Maddy Lowy is an intern at the Pioneer Institute. She will be a first year at the University of Virginia next fall. 

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Posts

UK Classics Scholar Kathryn Tempest on Cicero, Brutus, & the Death of Caesar

This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara talk with Dr. Kathryn Tempest, a Reader in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Roehampton in London, UK, and author of Cicero: Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome and Brutus: The Noble Conspirator. They discuss the historical, civic, and moral lessons political leaders, educators, and schoolchildren today can learn by studying the Roman Republic and the lives of key figures from that era such as Cicero and Brutus.

Pioneer Institute’s 2021 Government Transparency Resolutions: Sunshine Week Edition

As it does each year, Pioneer shares the resolutions it hopes state leaders will adopt to bring government actions into better focus and invigorate our democracy with heightened public engagement. As the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis noted, “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”

Traffic Strikes Back: New Transportation Strategies for Post-Pandemic Prosperity

Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Chris Dempsey, Director of Transportation for Massachusetts, about road and mass transit innovations that could address traffic challenges in a high-growth, post-pandemic economy.

Report Contrasts State Government and Private Sector Employment Changes During Pandemic

Massachusetts state government employment has been virtually flat during COVID-19 even as employment in the state’s private sector workforce remains nearly 10 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute. The study, “Public vs. Private Employment in Massachusetts: A Tale of Two Pandemics,” questions whether it makes sense to shield public agencies from last year’s recession at the expense of taxpayers.

Best-Selling, Netflix Author Loung Ung On Surviving Pol Pot’s Killing Fields

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara talk with Loung Ung, a human-rights activist; the author of the bestselling books First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, Lucky Child, and Lulu in the Sky; and a co-screenwriter of the 2017 Netflix Original Movie, First They Killed My Father. Ms. Ung shares her experiences living through genocide under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, which resulted in the deaths of nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population. 

Post-Pandemic Prospects: Tech Leaders’ Prescription for Preserving a Healthy Economy

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Chris Anderson, President of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, about the reasons why Massachusetts has a thriving tech sector, what challenges his members have faced in the pandemic, and what he sees as the most prudent path toward future prosperity in the commonwealth.

American Federation for Children’s Tommy Schultz on School Choice & Edu Federalism

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara talk with Tommy Schultz, CEO-elect of the American Federation for Children (AFC). They discuss how COVID-19 school closures have increased the interest in alternatives to public schools, and what AFC's polling shows on shifts in attitudes toward school choice options in both urban and rural communities.

Key Madison Park Program Lags Other State Voc-Techs, but Shows Signs of Improvement

The co-operative education program at Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, which places students in paid positions with local employers, lags far behind other Massachusetts vocational-technical schools in terms of both placements and number of employer contacts.  But with the school as a whole beginning to improve after years of turmoil, the co-op is also showing promising signs, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, International Best-Selling Author & Human Rights Activist

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara talk with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, founder of the AHA Foundation, and author of the books Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights, Infidel: My Life, and Nomad: From Islam to America - A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. 

Patient-centered Model Outshines Insurance-centered Healthcare during Pandemic

0 Comments
/
Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute Senior Fellow Josh Archambault about his newest research paper entitled, "Direct Health Care Agreements: A New Option For Patient-Centered Care That Costs Less and Reduces Provider Burn-out" and how this emerging service model provided its patients with comprehensive health service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

WSJ Drama Editor Terry Teachout on Jazz Greats Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington

This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and guest co-host Kerry McDonald continue our celebration of Black achievements with Terry Teachout, drama critic at The Wall Street Journal, and author of such books as Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong and Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington.

Wealth Migration Trends: Remote Work Technology Empowers Workers to Live Anywhere

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Andrew Mikula about his recent research into migration trends of high-income individuals, how pandemic-related technologies may accelerate that movement, and what challenges these changes present for policy makers.

UGA Prof. Valerie Boyd on Zora Neale Hurston, the Harlem Renaissance, & Black History Month

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard celebrate Black History Month with Professor Valerie Boyd, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence and Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Georgia, and the definitive biographer of Zora Neale Hurston. Boyd discusses why Hurston is such an important novelist and cultural figure, and the influence of Hurston’s 1937 classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, on American literature.

New Study Finds Pandemic-Spurred Technologies Lowered Barriers to Exit in High-Cost States

Both employers and households will find it easier to leave major job centers as technologies made commonplace by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a rethinking of the geography of work, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Interstate Legal Skirmish: New Hampshire Takes Massachusetts Telecommuter Tax to the Supreme Court

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with legal scholar and George Mason University Law Professor Ilya Somin about the details, the merits, and the likely implications of the Supreme Court case, New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, on state taxation power, federalism, and the power to vote with one’s feet.

Boston Catholic Schools Supt. Tom Carroll on National Catholic Schools Week

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard celebrate National Catholic Schools Week with Tom Carroll, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Boston. He shares his view of the value that Catholic schools add; the reasons for their success at improving student outcomes and creating a sense of community; and their commitment to serving children from underprivileged backgrounds, regardless of religious affiliation. 

Connecticut’s Painful Journey: Wealth Squandered, Lessons Learned, Promise Explored

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s President and CEO, Chris DiPentima, about what policy makers can learn from Connecticut’s journey from the wealthiest state in the nation, to one with more than a decade of negative job growth.

New Study Shows Significant Wealth Migration from Massachusetts to Florida, New Hampshire

Over the last 25 years, Massachusetts has consistently lost taxable income, especially to Florida and New Hampshire, via out-migration of the wealthy, according to a new Pioneer Institute study. In “Do The Wealthy Migrate Away From High-Tax States? A Comparison of Adjusted Gross Income Changes in Massachusetts and Florida,” Pioneer Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan and Research Assistant Andrew Mikula draw on IRS data showing aggregate migration flows by amount of adjusted gross income (AGI). The data show a persistent trend of wealth leaving high-tax states for low-tax ones, especially in the Sun Belt.