Written by thestar.com

Principia Scientific

They were spirited and eager as they gathered at the Newmarket hockey rink, a league of older men, all double-vaccinated and keen to finally get back to a sport they’d put on ice since the start of the pandemic.

Now they are recovering from COVID-19, one of their teammates dead, wondering if this tragedy could have been averted.

“It’s just strange,” mused Brian Dunn, of Thornhill. “15 guys who played separate nights, different change rooms, days apart, one tragic death. We vacillate between absolutely pissed off and sad … I lost my best friend.”

Dunn knows for certain only what happened to him when he returned to play with the Midas 3-on-3 league Sept. 30.

The over-50 league plays Mondays and Thursdays at the Stellar Drive rink: four teams, eight players each, play two games each evening on one of the two modified ice pads.

The league had just resumed play Sept. 27 after the pandemic shut things down in March 2020.

Dunn did not play that first day, but he was on the ice Thursday as was his buddy, Garry Weston, of Oro-Medonte, who sat beside him in the dressing room.

It was a chance to get back to “normal” — and it felt that way until Sunday, when the sore throat and headaches began.

On Tuesday, Dunn said, Weston tested positive for COVID-19 and on Wednesday, his own results came back positive.

Turns out, some of the other players had also been feeling ill, and several who’d played on the Monday night were sick, too.

Craig Adlam, one of the league organizers, said news of the COVID-19 outbreak began trickling in from players who had been on the ice Sept. 27, 30 and Oct. 4.

“I suggested we pull the plug on this before it goes any further,” he said. Play shut down for two weeks.

York Region Public Health spokesperson Patrick Casey confirmed an outbreak was declared Oct. 8 with 15 cases to date — 13 residents in York Region and two from Simcoe.

“At least 10 of the guys were basically bedridden for most of the time,” Adlam said. “It wasn’t just like sniffles or anything like that.”

In some cases, players tested negative and later, positive. Some spouses also caught the virus; in other cases, entire families became ill, he said.

Because many of the men play with multiple groups, three more Newmarket-Aurora leagues that play elsewhere in York Region shut down as the virus spread: the 5-on-5 leagues for over 35, over 50, and over 60s, Adlam said.

“People are getting a false impression, ‘I’m double-vaxxed … nothing can happen to me’ and as we can see, in our league 30 per cent got infected … And, unfortunately, Garry took the brunt of it.”

“Most of the guys got through their symptoms without any lingering effects, which is what you hope for with the vaccine,” said Dunn. “But with Garry, it was unbelievable. It went sideways for him very quickly.”

On Oct. 20, his daughter, Krista Weston, posted on Facebook: “Garry had a severe stroke while fighting the pneumonia caused by COVID. As a family and in respect of his wishes, he will be removed from life support.”

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Via https://principia-scientific.com/covid-19-sweeps-through-double-vaxxed-mens-hockey-league/