THUNDER BAY – A pair of participants in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts tested positive for COVID-19 in pre-departure tests.
The duo were not named by Curling Canada for privacy reasons, did not travel to Thunder Bay with their teams and no one considered a close contact with the two subsequently tested positive for the virus. Both participants are in Thunder Bay, isolating from their teams and outside the bubble.
The Tracy Fleury rink on Friday announced that skip Tracy Fleury was one of of the two who tested positive.
"We are excited to start the Scotties today. Unfortunately, due to a positive COVID test we will be starting the event without Tracey. However, the good news is she feels well and the positive test was from long enough ago that she could join us as early as this weekend," the team wrote in a post on its Twitter feed.
Fleury, whose team is a wild-card entry in 2022, skips the No. 1-ranked team in Canada.
Alternate Robin Njegovan will take Fleury's place.
Later on Friday Team Saskatchewan tweeted that the other positive was their coach, Mark Lang.
The other positive test was not associated with Team Fleury. Both participants are in Thunder Bay and can enter the restricted zone if and when they pass the tournament's COVID protocols.
All participants in the event, which gets under way on Friday at Fort William Gardens, had to produce a negative PCR test prior to leaving and upon arrival in Thunder Bay.
The curling action is set to begin at 7 p.m., with Northern Ontario’s Team McCarville pitted against wild-card Chelsea Carey, McCarville’s winning opponent in the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts final.
