As coronavirus concerns branch out to all walks of life, the Ontario Hockey League is doing what it can to educate teams to best protect themselves.
And despite what we're seeing around the world, we shouldn't expect to see empty arena games for now.
"It's a changing environment by day," says OHL vice-president Ted Baker. "We're continuing to monitor it."
He says they sent out information on Jan. 29, informing teams to use best practices in terms of having clean dressing rooms, proper hand-washing techniques, and ensuring the availability of hand sanitizer.
Baker says they've been getting information from the NHL as well, and have also talked with arena and facilities managers on what steps they're taking.
"We're looking at it from what we did when (the) SARS (outbreak happened) in 2003, and with H1N1 (in 2009)," he said.
"We also sent out correspondence regarding information that we got from the school boards, and we sent that out to all of our teams, and to have them communicate that with the parents and the billets as well," Baker added.
Earlier this week, new information was sent to teams from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, Ontario's Ministry of Health website (which provides daily updates), and links from the Public Health Agency of Canada, providing information on symptoms, facts about the virus, prevention and treatment.
"We're looking at preventative measures that we can take in and around the home and (visiting) team dressing rooms," Baker said. "We've asked our teams to speak to their bus carrier to see what preventative measures are being taken on the bus, because you don't know just who's been on bus prior to them, because it is something that's rented out."
Baker says when it comes to fan interaction, they haven't advised the teams to do anything different.
"It's not a community-spread disease at this particular time," he said, adding they'll make adjustments along the way as things change.
In Kitchener, it seems things are staying status quo, as there hasn't been much to adjust.
"Our training staff's really good at that stuff already, and they're on top of it so not too big of a change in terms of doing anything different from their perspective," says Rangers interim coach and GM Mike McKenzie, "But (right now, it's) just (making) sure that everyone is aware, and on the same page in how we can try to prevent it the best we can."
He says obviously it's a situation where you don't want anyone getting it, and you want to prevent the spread as much as you can, but it's not something you want to go too overboard with.
"(There's the) saying that 'you could get hit crossing the street,' but you got to cross the street at some point," McKenzie added, "So you want to take the measures to try to prevent it, but also we can't (go) too crazy as well."
McKenzie was asked about fan interaction after a memo was sent out by the NBA for players to offer fist bumps to fans instead of high-fives, as well as avoiding taking items from fans to sign autographs.
He says everyone is a little different in that regard.
"Some people, I think, probably would prefer to go down that route anyway, even without the new virus that's popped up," he said. "Some people are germophobes, other people don't mind, don't care, they share stuff.
"I think it's probably more of a personal choice, as opposed to a league or team thing."
Around the world, and even in Canada, COVID-19 has changed the very landscape of sporting events.
There have been questions whether the Tokyo Olympics will even go ahead this summer. Meanwhile, events in Italy, including Serie A -- the top soccer league in that country -- will go ahead behind closed doors until April 3.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has cancelled six upcoming tournaments around the world, and Hockey Canada is keeping an eye on things ahead of the Women's World Championship coming up in Nova Scotia later this month.
The National College Players Association, who represent student-athletes in the NCAA, released a statement saying: "There should be a serious discussion about holding competitions without an audience present" in regards to the March Madness basketball tournament and other athletic events.
In the OHL, there are no plans at this time to have no fans in the stands during games.
"We know what's happening, and what's been suggested as what may occur if things progress in a negative fashion," Baker said. "But at this point in time, we haven't had any specific discussions regarding that.
"I'm not saying that we won't, but as the landscape continues to change, we'll adapt as required."
- KitchenerToday.com/Rogers Media
