
<p>An amateur ice hockey game in Florida might have fueled a small Covid-19 outbreak in June, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6941a4.htm?s_cid=mm6941a4_w" target="_blank">study released Thursday</a> that represents one of the first formally documented cases of the coronavirus spreading through sports, raising new questions as U.S. sports leagues press forward with their seasons.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>A Tampa man reported coronavirus symptoms the day after he participated in the hockey game, meaning he likely caught the virus before the game, the CDC study found.</p>



<p>Five days later, at least 14 other people at the indoor rink had either tested positive for the virus or showed symptoms: eight of the man’s 11 teammates, five people on the opposing team, and one rink staff member — all 15 people later recovered from the virus.</p>



<p>The 22 players did not wear face masks while on the ice or in locker rooms.</p>



<p>The study is one of the first to research Covid-19 at sporting events, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/parent-mailbag/posts/2020/7/21/is-there-evidence-of-covid-19-outbreaks-due-to-youth-sports" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scattered reports</a>&nbsp;have emerged nationwide: dozens of people tested positive after a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article244347427.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">July football game</a>&nbsp;in Kentucky, and 52 cases were reported after an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.startribune.com/covid-19-risk-lurks-as-mshsl-considers-restart-of-prep-football-volleyball/572465751/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Iowa baseball tournament</a>.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>After states loosened their social distancing rules over the summer, many&nbsp;<a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30108928/nfl-chief-medical-officer-dr-allen-sills-shifting-bubble-environment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">professional</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/26/us/college-football-conferences-covid-19-schedule-spt-trnd/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amateur</a>&nbsp;sports leagues eagerly resumed play. Despite the extra precautions most leagues have added,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sports-restart-has-a-plan-for-everythingexcept-a-coronavirus-outbreak-11593604800" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">experts</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/playing-sports.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDC officials</a>&nbsp;warned that athletes can still transmit the virus, especially in sports like football and hockey where close contact with teammates and competitors is almost impossible to avoid. But Thursday’s CDC study is&nbsp;<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/how-a-florida-hockey-game-became-a-covid-19-superspreader-event-170046699.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">among the only</a>&nbsp;formal looks into whether sports games can become superspreader events.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



<p>Several NFL teams have reported coronavirus cases in recent weeks, forcing the league to postpone some games. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tennessean.com/in-depth/sports/nfl/titans/2020/10/12/titans-covid-19-timeline-first-positive-test-second-postponement/5924320002/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tennessee Titans</a>&nbsp;are the hardest-hit team, with around two dozen infected players and staff. There is little evidence of any players catching the virus from an opposing team, but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/nfl-s-covid-outbreak-postpones-patriots-chiefs-it-could-be-ncna1242149" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">some observers worry</a>&nbsp;that wider outbreaks within individual teams will become hard to avoid as players and coaches continue to traverse the country.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SECTION TITLE</h4>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sports-restart-has-a-plan-for-everythingexcept-a-coronavirus-outbreak-11593604800" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Sports Restart Has a Plan for Everything—Except a Coronavirus Outbreak (Wall Street Journal)</a></p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.startribune.com/covid-19-risk-lurks-as-mshsl-considers-restart-of-prep-football-volleyball/572465751/" target="_blank">Sports cause outbreaks. Restart sports anyway? (Minneapolis Star Tribune)</a></p>



<p><em>-By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Lausanne HC v HC Davos – Ice Hockey National League

Sporting Events Can Spark Covid Outbreaks, CDC Finds


<p>When Houston was gripped by a severe Covid-19 wave in June, a mutated form of coronavirus that developed elsewhere in the world and which is known to be especially contagious grew to eventually dominate the city’s infected patients, according to a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.22.20199125v1" target="_blank">study released Wednesday</a> that could raise new questions about how quickly the virus evolved as it spread around the world.</p>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h5>



<p>The study, which was not peer-reviewed and was first reported by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/23/houston-coronavirus-mutations/?arc404=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Washington Post</em></a>, looked at virus samples from two different Covid-19 waves in the Houston area over the spring and summer.</p>



<p>Many different strains of the virus entered Houston initially, but when the city moved from a small initial wave in March to a much larger outbreak in late June, almost every coronavirus sample contained a particular mutation on the virus’ surface that had previously been found in cases in Europe.</p>



<p>Patients with that strain of coronavirus carried more virus particles than other people, meaning they were probably more infectious, the study found.</p>



<p>Researchers say the rise of this contagious strain of the virus may have driven up the infection rate in the Houston area, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/infection-rate-in-the-greater-houston-area/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jumped</a>&nbsp;from an average of around 200 new Covid-19 cases per day to more than 2,400.</p>



<p>The mutation did not appear to make the virus more dangerous or change patients’ outcomes, according to the study.</p>



<p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.31.20166082v2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">similar study</a>&nbsp;from earlier this month found evidence that the United Kingdom was also overtaken by the same virus strain over the spring.</p>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h5>



<p>Scientists are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/18/mutant-virus-should-we-be-worried-sars-cov-2-changing-covid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">not surprised</a>&nbsp;that coronavirus has evolved over time. Mutations take place when a virus replicates and, after infecting more than 30 million people, coronavirus has had plenty of opportunities to mutate. Most mutations have no impact, but this process sometimes changes the virus’ behavior or makeup, and if that change helps the virus spread, a mutated version of the virus can eventually dominate through&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02544-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">natural selection</a>. This study from Houston is the latest evidence that coronavirus is changing as it moves around, possibly becoming slightly more infectious in the process.</p>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h5>



<p>&nbsp;If coronavirus is evolving over time, that process could impact the effectiveness of a vaccine. The virus rarely infects the same person twice, but some research shows that reinfection is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/coronavirusfrontlines/2020/09/22/can-you-get-a-covid-19-infection-twice-an-infectious-disease-doctor-discusses-new-evidence/#130382fd7b09">more possible</a>&nbsp;if a patient gets two different strains of coronavirus. For that reason, as the virus changes, a vaccine might need to change along with it.</p>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h5>



<p>“We’ll have to chase the virus and, as it mutates, we’ll have to tinker with our vaccine,” David Morens, a virologist and advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Post.</em></p>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h5>



<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/23/houston-coronavirus-mutations/?arc404=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Massive genetic study shows coronavirus mutating and potentially evolving amid rapid U.S. spread (Washington Post)</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/18/mutant-virus-should-we-be-worried-sars-cov-2-changing-covid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mutant virus: should we be worried that Sars-CoV-2 is changing? (The Guardian)</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02544-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The coronavirus is mutating — does it matter? (Nature)</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/coronavirusfrontlines/2020/09/22/can-you-get-a-covid-19-infection-twice-an-infectious-disease-doctor-discusses-new-evidence/#130382fd7b09">Can You Get A Covid-19 Infection Twice? An Infectious Disease Doctor Discusses New Evidence (Forbes)</a></p>



<p><em>-By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Tag: Study

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Sporting Events Can Spark Covid Outbreaks, CDC Finds

Coronavirus May Have Mutated To Become More Contagious, Study Finds