Thread by @DrEricDing

🏒New—25 hockey players and staff of NHL Vancouver @Canucks team are now confirmed positive for #COVID19. All cases traced to a single source, which is an variant awaiting formal confirmation which type (previously #P1 mentioned by multiple reporters). 🧵 nhl.com/canucks/news/c…

2) “An ongoing investigation by Vancouver Coastal Health and club contact tracing staff attributes the source infection to a single individual obtained in a community setting, which has since been identified by public health as a public exposure location.

3) “The Canucks are grateful for the continued support of local public health officials, the NHL and NHLPA and encourage everyone to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by following health orders. COVID-19 infections are rising in BC.

4) “This is a stark reminder of how quickly the virus can spread and its serious impact, even among healthy, young athletes.” ⚠️

5) Let’s put this @Canucks outbreak in perspective just how contagious #SARSCoV2 is....

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1378553377576136706

6) Previously it was reported by multiple media outlets (see above and below) that it was the #P1 variant from Brazil 🇧🇷. Many players were very ill on IV fluids.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1378479376946315272

7) There was already a raging outbreak of #P1 well before last week in British Columbia 🇨🇦

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1377819829466464258

8) I tried to warn 2 weeks ago about Brazil 🇧🇷 and Latin America #P1 crisis and how BC was a new epicenter.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1375617997046435845

9) On March 22nd, BC health authorities already knew 84 cases of #P1 and none were international travel related — hence domestic community spread.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1375622755517927426

10) Thus, regardless if the Canucks hockey outbreak is P1 or not, we should have acted sooner. Yet its frustrating BC health chief kept dismissing variants as not different than older strains, which is clearly false. @CDCofBC 🇨🇦 needs to wake up.

11) thus, if you are Canadian—Please sign & share:

Call to action for all provinces & territories to adopt an explicit goal of #COVID19 elimination & implement effective, financially supported restrictions across #Canada

#ZeroCovid @zerocovidcanada zerocovidcanada.org/take-action

12) Earlier today, CDC did issue new advisory language on travel to Canada 🇨🇦 about variants in Canada.

➡️ Notably, CDC is very worried about new variants and warns “even fully vaccinated may be at risk”. #COVID19

(note: It’s been Level 4 since last fall, but variants is new).

13) Finally, let these sobering stats from yesterday sink in. Canada is in trouble without more vaccines.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1379288639394430980

14) BC 🇨🇦 must act or else it might endanger the country or continent.

https://twitter.com/sxmcanadatalks/status/1379835853913079808

15) p.s. hockey is a risky sport during Covid because of thermal inversions over the ice rink that keeps the aerosols trapped over the ice instead of dissipating

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1366544350520496128

16) Many other hockey related #COVID19 outbreaks.

https://twitter.com/LauraMiers/status/1379921468016984064