For better or worse, sports leagues have been relaxing their COVID policies lately, and the NHL is no different. The NHL announced its revised COVID-19 protocol on Monday (kicking in after the 2022 NHL All-Star Break), and the headliner is that the changes will remove the requirement for fully vaccinated players to get tested daily.
(The NHL’s release notes that “fully vaccinated individuals” won’t be required to test daily, so that would seemingly also include front office members.)
NHL announces revised COVID protocol, including removal of daily testing for fully vaccinated ‘individuals’
Here are the changes the NHL announced to its COVID protocol:
• Recommendation to receive booster vaccine(s) as they become available.
• Removal of “enhanced measures” and reverting instead to the start-of-season Protocol, except where otherwise specified.
• Updated recommendations for type of masks and steps to reduce community exposure.
• Removal of the requirement to test daily (i.e., “for-cause” testing only) for Fully Vaccinated individuals.
• Removal of the requirement to test close contacts.
• Updated requirements for in-arena family spaces, game presentation and on-ice ceremonies.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli clarified what those updated recommendations for masks were:
#NHL, #NHLPA announce new COVID-19 protocol, which removes the requirement for daily testing - now only "for cause" i.e. symptoms, after the All-Star break.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 1, 2022
One other change: Cloth masks are no longer allowed. Recommendation is for N95 or KN95 masks only.
For what it’s worth, the NFL removed the requirement for unvaccinated players to go through daily COVID testing for a portion of the playoffs. So it’s possible to have a protocol that’s more lax than these loosened restrictions.
—
James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.