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After a warning about the risk of increased exposure and now an outbreak declaration, the board of Regina’s Caledonian Curling Club thinks it should have been informed sooner about an outbreak at the other Regina club.
On Sunday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority announced that those who were at the Highland Curling Club for a bonspiel Nov. 13-to-15 were at increased risk for contracting COVID-19 and has since declared an outbreak for that weekend. There was an increased risk announced at the Highland between Nov. 16-to-23 and for the Caledonian Curling Club between Nov. 16-to-24.
On Sunday, the authority also declared an outbreak at the Callie. It was the first time the Callie had heard from the SHA, even though the outbreak that started it had happened two weeks earlier and the club had been voluntarily shut down for nearly a week.
The board at the Callie Curling Club thinks it should have been informed sooner about an outbreak at the other Regina club. Michael Lavis, vice-president of the Callie, notes that curlers often don’t confine themselves to one club and will attend events at others, and some will play in leagues at more than one club. Lavis confirmed that some members of the Callie had curled at the Highland spiel and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
Positive cases began popping up early in the week after the bonspiel, but Lavis said the Callie didn’t know there was an outbreak until it was reported in the media the next weekend. He didn’t find out the extent of the outbreak until a CurlRegina meeting Nov. 23.
That night, Lavis said the Callie called an emergency board meeting and made the decision to suspend play for a week.
“(We did it) with the purpose of better understanding the situation that was unfolding because a number of our curlers had participated in that ‘spiel that was held at the Highland,” said Lavis.
But games had already been played in Callie leagues for a week.
Lavis believes the Callie board should have been notified about the extent of the outbreak and the risk of exposure much sooner.
“I think it would be fair to say that we are disappointed,” said Lavis. “If we would have known sooner, we would have, potentially, been able to help mitigate some of that cross-exposure.”
Lavis said, as an organization, the Callie is taking its direction from the SHA and tries to be ready to pivot when new requirements come out.
“As a board it’s just hard because you’re really doing your best to look our for the well-being of your membership but you can only act with the information you have, and when you don’t have any it’s hard to make decisions,” he said.
Lavis said declarations at this point are just bringing to light a problem that happened two weeks ago.
It’s not just the health authority the club is disappointed with. Lavis said there’s also some disappointment that the Callie’s fellow club, the Highland, didn’t let them know what had happened either.
“Knowing that members of our club were curling in that facility on that weekend, it would have been appreciated to have a heads up. And that’s just something that we would have been able to, as a board, respond appropriately, and we just weren’t given that opportunity until it was too late,” said Lavis.
980 CJME has reached out to the Highland club and to the SHA for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication.
Because of the new COVID restrictions in the province, the curling clubs won’t have any games until Dec. 17 regardless, but Lavis said the club board has decided not to start things up again at the Callie until the new year.
Lavis said it’s the responsible thing to do.
When they do get back on the ice, Lavis said the club board has been discussing ways to increase safety. He said masks will almost certainly be required on the ice. But he said he’s concerned that these reports of outbreaks will raise fears for people who are considering coming back to play.
“I suspect there are members that are going to be quite concerned and feeling a bit anxious about coming back, and we don’t want that to be detrimental to the sport,” said Lavis.
