A second Ottawa Senators player has tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced on Saturday. They are the only known cases among NHL players.
The Senators said the player was part of the team’s March 7-11 road trip which included games in San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles. There were 52 people as part of the team’s traveling party — including staff, media, guests and flight crew.
“Of those on the trip, 44 have shown no symptoms, eight people have been tested, and two positive results were received,” the Senators said in a statement. “We are awaiting the results from tests that took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Ottawa announced the first player’s diagnosis on Tuesday. The team is not releasing the identity of either player.
According to the Senators, everyone who was on the road trip was told to self-quarantine on March 14, and directives have not changed.
“The Ottawa Senators’ medical team is actively monitoring players and staff and following all appropriate and professional guidelines to help ensure the health and safety of our employees and the greater community,” the team said in a statement.
NHL players are getting tested on a case-by-case basis. Those efforts are coordinated between the NHL, the NHLPA, the individual clubs and local health authorities — as well as input from infectious disease specialists. A Senators spokeswoman told ESPN that testing for the Senators players has been coordinated through Ottawa’s public health system.
The NHL season has been on pause since March 12. The league is currently going through several models of how it might be able to finish out the season. Commissioner Gary Bettman told Get Up last week that he believed that under the current circumstances, the league can “go later than we’ve ever gone.”
“How late is a good question,” Bettman said. “What we want to make sure of is that we don’t do anything from this season that might impact next season and having the normalcy it is supposed to have.”