Doctor says NHL should cover long-term costs if players contract COVID-19

A prominent doctor is urging NHL players not to return to playing unless or until the league promises to cover any long-term costs of contracting COVID-19.

“Young athletes do not think about this stuff because think they are invincible, but every so often we see young, healthy people get very bad diseases, and this is no different,” said Dr. Andrew Morris in an interview with TSN. “It would be unusual for a healthy young athlete to get really sick with COVID and wind up in the ICU, but, hey, somebody wins the lottery, right?

“…They should want their health care and income insured, seeing that they are taking an additional risk, especially if residing in the U.S."

Dr. Morris is an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who has consulted Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment on the virus. Several players have expressed concerns about potentially contracting the virus as the league prepares plans to award the Stanley Cup in the 2019-20 season.

“There's so much about COVID we haven't figured out yet,” Dr. Morris said. “It takes time to understand a virus when you don't know what you're looking for. We now know that loss of smell is a characteristic symptom in about 70 per cent of cases. But it took tens of thousands of cases over months where that was a consistent symptom for us to understand that.”

Source: TSN.ca

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