Grey-Bruce COVID-19 surge tracked back to organized sports

A surge in COVID-19 cases in Grey and Bruce counties is being tracked back to kids' organized sports.

“The surge in cases we’ve seen in Grey-Bruce is mostly outside of this group, but it started in this group. The chain of transmission started with these individuals getting infected, and then passing it on to their family and friends,” says Grey-Bruce’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra.

In response to 76 active cases, and over 700 high-risk contacts, Arra is considering a spectrum of changes to organized youth sports in the region, which could include pausing all school sports, ending travel of minor and amateur teams outside of the region, or pausing sporting events within Grey-Bruce entirely.

“We don’t want to take away the hobby that many people enjoy that is needed during this stressful time. It not just for the kids, it’s for the families too,” says Arra. “Our goal is not to shut it down, our goal is to keep it open as long as we can, so long as it’s safe.”

While local sports groups and teams don’t want to see any changes to their “return to play,” at the Owen Sound Minor Hockey Group, they’ll do what’s asked of them by the health unit.

“We’ll follow the direction of the OMHA (Ontario Minor Hockey Association) and the Grey-Bruce Health Unit, and support their decisions accordingly,” says Cam Duggan, second vice-president of the Owen Sound Minor Hockey Group.

Arra says these are just possible restrictions if cases connected to youth organized sports rise in Grey-Bruce. He says Grey-Bruce isn’t alone, other areas are tracking more cases back to organized sports in recent weeks.

“If you zoom out of this you look from the provincial level, our colleagues there are looking at the data that point of view, and there could be measures that would be parallel to what is reached locally.”

At 71.5 per cent double-dose vaccination coverage in Grey-Bruce, one of the lowest rates in Ontario, vaccination hesitancy isn’t helping the situation either says Arra.

For the latest on the COVID-19 situation in Grey-Bruce, you can click here.