Nearly two dozen youth hockey players test positive for COVID-19 after game

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Nearly two dozen players on a metro Atlanta youth hockey team have been diagnosed with the coronavirus at a possible super-spreader event.

Team officials think they may have contracted the virus from an opponent.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in Cobb County, where she talked to the manager of the Mad Hatters, a junior league team in Atlanta. Raj Karla said he thought the team was taking the proper precautions to guard against COVID-19 when they played Raleigh over the weekend. But now, 23 players on the Atlanta-based team are infected.

“It’s nobody’s fault,” Karla said. “It’s what we thought was the best protocol.”

Karla said the Raleigh team had a few players test positive and isolated them. The players who tested negative on a rapid test got on a bus and headed to Atlanta. Karla said that was a bad idea because he thinks at least one of those tests was a false negative.

“What we think happened was they came down, they played us – and then on the way home, one of the kids caught a fever,” Karla said. " They tested the rest of the team and we believe somewhere in there some of our kids got infected."

TRENDING STORIES

• Deputies release new info after missing Georgia mother’s car found with badly decomposed body inside
• 9-year-old girl stabbed to death in south Georgia, GBI says
• Gov. Brian Kemp, state health officials warn of ‘Twindemic’ of COVID-19 and flu season

Twenty-three players on the Mad Hatters are now infected and quarantining at home. Karla said the players are all doing well and no one has become seriously ill.

“We check with every kid every day,” Karla said." Nobody has a fever. Everybody is eating. We’re grateful this wasn’t any more serious. All of our kids are all in a good state of mind."

Karla said team officials are now reviewing their safety protocols.

“What we’ve learned since then: Even though there’s a negative, there’s this waiting period,” Karla said.

Fernandes spoke to a local doctor, who said the outbreak wouldn’t have happened if team officials in North Carolina had followed CDC guidelines.

Dr. Felipe Lopelo said a lot of people forget about the fact that the virus could take three to five days to show up on a test. He said the players who were in close contact with the ones who tested positive should not have come to metro Atlanta.

“The CDC guidelines are very clear, and unfortunately, a lot of people from up in the White House, to sports teams, to all walks of life, they’re not following CDC guidelines,” Lopelo said.

Another concern? Cobb County schools resumed in-person instruction this week. Karla said that thankfully, none of the players attended school this week.

Cobb County Schools resumed in-person classes this week, but officials at the ice hockey facility said none of the players attended school this week.

Karla said parents were divided on the outbreak.

“Some parents were like, ‘Oh, this is to be expected,’” Karla said. “Other parents were upset, you know, ‘Why did this happen?’”

Total US coronavirus cases top 7.5M (NCD)

Cox Media Group