A massive corona outbreak has completely paralyzed the Iserlohn Roosters in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). 25 players and supervisors are in quarantine after positive tests, currently only four professionals who are capable of playing are available to the Sauerlanders. The duel with the Krefeld Penguins on Wednesday was canceled. "With an incubation period of seven to ten days, the further dynamic remains to be seen," said team doctor Dr. Jochen Veit in a message from Tuesday. The variant of the virus is currently being determined and the analysis should be completed on Wednesday. The quarantine duration is based on this.
"Of course there are some indications that it is the Omikron variant," said sporting director Christian Hommel to the SID: "But we are all not virologists, so we are waiting for the results from the laboratory." Hommel expects that "we have to take further measures for the upcoming games".
The most important thing: "Fortunately, all infected people are doing reasonably well under the circumstances, although the symptoms vary, of course," reported Veit.
"After the quarantine and after the symptoms have subsided, we will introduce the players to the stresses and strains through the league's" return-to-play protocol "." It is not clear when the team will be able to compete again.
Last Sunday's game against the Straubing Tigers had already been postponed.
The semi-final first leg of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) between Red Bull Munich and Tappara Tampere, scheduled for Tuesday evening, was also canceled at short notice in the late afternoon.
As the Munich-based company announced, several players had tested positive in their routine corona tests, at least one of them for the Omikron variant.
The Munich health department therefore ordered isolation for all players who tested positive as well as quarantine for the entire team of the three-time German champions in the afternoon.