Sununu considers ice hockey guidance requiring COVID-19 testing

CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday he will have new guidance for the state’s ice rinks as soon as today after closing them on Oct. 15 for two weeks.

He will consider rules calling for COVID-19 tests for hockey players and other personnel before they return to the ice.

The closure came after 158 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in connection with the sport in New Hampshire over the last two months.

Outbreaks across the state included one at the Merrill Fay Arena in Laconia, where New England Wolves General Manager Andrew Trimble said about 10 people tested positive, but nobody required hospitalizations and nobody had symptoms lasting longer than two day.

Sununu said he and health officials would review recommendations from his Economic Re-Opening Task Force, which discussed procedures that should be required for ice hockey and ice arenas.

Sununu has final say on the rules.

After a lengthy meeting Thursday, the task force adopted draft recommendations calling for volunteers, athletes, coaches, officials and trainers to wear cloth face coverings.

“For competitions or games (including scrimmages) where closer contact (i.e., within 6 feet) may occur and where there may be higher levels of exertion and breathing, teams should require masks or face shields to limit a person’s respiratory droplet dispersion,” the guidelines state.

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Spectators must also wear face masks.

The task force eased a draft requirement that rink staff, volunteers and athletes must be tested for COVID-19 before the two-week pause in rink activities concludes. Multiple people testified before the task force that this was an unreasonable requirement. It was easily the most controversial portion of the guidelines.

At his news conference on Thursday, Sununu said he hadn’t decided yet what to do about this piece of the guidance, but he did stress the importance of testing.

Testing provides a snapshot in time, but it’s an important part of resuming an activity that has been problematic, he said.

“The whole point is to hopefully hit the reset button so that when these teams come back that these players, coaches and even the parents — we would encourage everyone to be tested — so that when they come back, they are coming back knowing that they don’t have the virus, knowing that they are not going to be a spreader,” Sununu said.

“Yes, it’s a snapshot in time, but that’s exactly what we are doing, we are taking a pause in time.”

On the Web:

— Draft state ice rink recommendations: https://tinyurl.com/y2vrkbjq