Health orders on indoor youth sports take effect in Manitoba
Last month the province announced that as of 12:01am on Dec. 6, Manitoba youth age 12 to 17 will be required to show proof of at least one vaccination or provide a recent negative COVID-19 test to take part in indoor recreational sports.
The province said negative tests need to come from participating pharmacies, not from publically run testing sites, and unvaccinated youth will need get the test within 72 hours of participating.
The province said the new rules were prompted by modelling, which shows case counts are increasing most rapidly among youth between ages 0 and 19.
Hockey is one of the predominant sports played through Manitoba’s winter months, and Hockey Manitoba executive director Peter Woods said with case numbers continuing to rise, the health order was expected.
“Maybe sports was living a little bit on borrowed time, and it could’ve been probably introduced earlier in the year like they’ve done with a number of different activities,” Woods said.
Woods said the facilities that are holding the games will be responsible for checking for proof of vaccination, but there are still some questions around what a negative test looks like, if tests will look different from region to region, and what kind of identification can be provided.
“They’ve identified some of the things you can provide like a health card, a web view, or other government documentation, but a lot of 12 year olds and up might not have that information,” he said.
Woods said there are still some challenges that need to be worked out, and they’ve been getting a lot of questions from members in the last month leading up to the new rules being implemented.
Some sports leagues took it upon themselves to implement mandatory vaccination for youth age 12 to 17 right from the start.
CTV News Winnipeg spoke with the vice president of the Winnipeg Ringette League Jennifer Kingsley in November. She said the league required players to be vaccinated at the beginning of the season, months before the province’s requirements.
“We are willing to stand there and say the health of everyone is more important than a little bit of problems for us to (implement) it,” said Kingsley.
Woods said the new rules are another step towards keeping everyone safe.
“Every time that virus has an opportunity to spread it can mutate, and if it mutates it might get to the situation where the current vaccinations that we have will no longer protect us, and we’ll have to start over at square one again…that’s one of the biggest reasons why people should look into it,” Woods said.
Hockey Manitoba has frequent updates surrounding health mandates in the return to play section of its website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.