More four St. Louis Blues players have tested positive for Covid-19, less than a week before teams are set to restart the 2020 season.
The identity of the infected individuals and their symptoms are still unknown. It looks like they got the virus from a bar in Clayton, Missouri. S team meeting was organised in the establishment about a week ago.
“I think it’s fair to say that our experience to this point is consistent with what we expected. We didn’t go down this road thinking we were not going to see any positives. Of course we were going to see positives.” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Post-Dispatch.
“Especially given that we had players spread all across the globe and facing various conditions with respect to their individual behaviors, their methods of conditioning, their respective locations and their various modes of travel.
The Blues is reportedly canceled training on Friday and closed its training facilities for the weekend due to test results. They are expected to train on Monday.
Fifteen of the 250 NHL players who showed up at the team’s facilities for Phase 2 tested positive for the virus on Monday. 11 other players who did not show up for voluntary training have also tested positive since June 8, when phase 2 started.
Phase 3 of the NHL return plan, which marks the start of training camp, is scheduled to begin on July 10. The NHL and the players’ association would conclude a new six-year collective agreement as well as an agreement on the details of the league’s return to play plan.
The NHL season was suspended on March 12 when the Covid-19 pandemic began. Hockey will have a training camp in early July and hope to restart their season in late July with the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
