The National League has followed suit with the NFL and the NBA: players positive for COVID-19, but without symptoms, will be able to undergo a shorter quarantine.
In an internal note obtained by journalist Frank Seravalli, the NHL has indeed informed the teams that the quarantine of infected players will be reduced from 10 to 5 days, under certain conditions.
After five days, a player could therefore end his quarantine if these conditions are met:
– the player must be asymptomatic, or his symptoms must be “disappearing”
– he obtains a negative result in a PCR test
– he gets the green light from the team doctor
– the local authorities allow him to come out of his isolation
This last point is crucial, because in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) allowed this same reduction in quarantine from 10 to 5 days. However, in Canada, a person positive for COVID-19 must still self-isolate for 10 days.
This overlap of jurisdictions will therefore be interesting to follow. At the Canadiens, for example, forward Paul Byron and goaltender Cayden Primeau, who are currently with the team in the United States, were placed on the list of absent players on Wednesday due to COVID-19.
If they have indeed produced a positive test, they will therefore have to self-isolate for five days, and then be able to come out of their isolation in the United States. That said, in five days the team will theoretically be back in Montreal, where the 10-day rule applies.
This amendment to the NHL protocol applies to properly vaccinated players, meaning all players except Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who refused the COVID vaccine. -19.