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    • Mar 23, 2020
    • 5 min read

Advisory on COVID-19, March 23, 2020

SPORT MEDICINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE UPDATE:


The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is over 350,000 globally, with approximately 100,000 recovered and over 15,000 deaths. The number of new cases continues to increase rapidly. Over 32,000 new cases were reported in the world yesterday, with the largest surges seen in USA, Italy, and Germany. 


In Canada, the numbers continue to rise quickly, with nearly 1,500 confirmed cases, 20 deaths. The Public Health Agency of Canada still states that the overall risk of infection in Canada is low, but the caseload has risen dramatically in the last week. There were 142 new cases reported on March 22, after two days of having had nearly 250 new cases per day. Continuing to slow the spread of this disease must be our current national and global priority.


Yesterday the COC and CPC made the difficult decision not to send a team to Tokyo in 2020 to minimize the risk to athletes who feel they need to continue training for July 2020 and to minimize the risk to their families and community.


Hygiene and Social Precautions:

  • All Canadians should stay at home, work from home, and exercise at home to the extent this is possible.

  • Maintain a distance of 2 metres from other people.

  • There is a preferred hierarchy for handling coughs and sneezes.

  1. Best practice is to expel respiratory droplets into disposable tissue, dispose of it safely, then immediately wash or sanitize hands.

  2. Expelling respiratory droplets onto a flexed elbow is better than no protection or an unprotected hand but it is non-optimal, as virus then remains on either the clothing or skin of the elbow depending on attire, either of which then need to be washed.

  • For protection of others – assume you are infected and behave as such.

  • For your protection – assume all others are infected and behave as such.


Updated Government of Canada Recommendations:

  • All non-essential travel outside Canada is to be avoided, the US border is closed to non-essential traffic. All Canadians currently abroad are urged to return to Canada ASAP.

  • All travellers returning from any destination outside of Canada are required to self-isolate for 14 days from the date of return (see the infographic below for specific information on what is involved in self-isolation).


KNOW THE DIFFERENCE: SELF-MONITORING, SELF-ISOLATION, AND ISOLATION FOR COVID-19