Tougher covid restrictions - risk to hockey?

[jimmy snels]

As finny said id happily buy some shirt off his backs etc as well then.

 

[revilo]

How about a temporary change to the 50:50 so it becomes a 25:75!!

 

[drainage]

As disappointing as it is to wake up to this announcement, it’s not really a surprise to anyone who has been following the data for the past couple of weeks.

London’s cases have been increasing at a frightening rate the past two weeks and sadly their hospital admissions are now increasing drastically too. They’re now at the highest level since the end of the 2nd wave a year ago and still increasing.

In Wales the increase in cases had been gradual and hospital admissions had been continuing to fall. However, Friday showed the first big increase in cases and yesterday the data for the weekend confirmed its continuing. Cardiff in particular had a big spike.

With traditional Christmas socialising these figures are only likely to increase further and without action Hospital admissions will be increasing too. And that’s without taking into account health care staff catching it and having to isolate.

With Westminster basically a government that has fallen there is very little the devolved governments can do without financial support from the Treasury. But throughout the pandemic large events have been shown to be super spreaders.
As soon as nightclubs were announced to be closing the writing was on the wall for us. 3000 people indoors? Only the biggest hockey fans could deny we’d be high risk.

I’m guessing there will be further restrictions announced in the coming days to hospitality and although we’ve heard nothing other than the official line many of us in education are assuming there will be some sort of staggered start to schools returning in January.

Hopefully the preemptive action here in Wales will mean the disruption will be kept to a minimum.

I don’t disagree cases are rising however hospitalisations and deaths aren’t …..we have been encouraged to be jabbed and get booster shots which I have done but why if it makes zero difference to what I can and can’t do? Oh I can go to pub and watch sport on TV !

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

If I were Todd I’d be finding out whether the full cost of missing crowd revenue is going to be covered.
if it’s not then come together with owners from all welsh sports teams and all go ahead and play with crowds as normal. Omicron is coming regardless, hitting the sports fans isn’t going to stop it.

The owner of a little cinema in Swansea thought they could ignore the covid law. They ended up with a massive fine and almost went to prison. Ignoring the covid law is not an option

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

If they charged £20 for the home streams it might be doable, not sure how many people actually stream games though

Thing is even if uptake for streams is high - the whole family can watch the stream for say £20.
For two adults and two kids (someone help me out here) it's like what £70 or thereabouts for tickets?

Then its food and drinks on top, raffle tickets chuk-a-puck, & there's sales from the shop.

That's a huge amount of revenue lost.

 

[moggy#9]

If I were Todd I’d be finding out whether the full cost of missing crowd revenue is going to be covered.
if it’s not then come together with owners from all welsh sports teams and all go ahead and play with crowds as normal. Omicron is coming regardless, hitting the sports fans isn’t going to stop it.

That is the single most ridiculous post I've ever read on the inferno, and that is saying a lot. What you're suggesting is anarchy, and if a club in a minor sport tried that we'd need shut down for good.

 

[E.D.S.]

I'm happy to forgo my season ticket money, buy 50/50 and a webcast if it helps.

 

[James]

I'm happy to forgo my season ticket money, buy 50/50 and a webcast if it helps.

I think a lot of fans are more concerned about the club than their season ticket money. I doubt the club will let it come to that but I'm sure there's willing. Whatever your thoughts on the Welsh Gov, this is the correct course of action. The midnight timing was a bit crap but at least they are being proactive unlike the MIA Westminster shower.

 

[august04 2.0]

The rise in hospitalisations in London must be largely attributable to the fact that 1 in 3 people in London haven’t been vaccinated. It’s not a fair comparison to use when speculating what might happen in Wales, where the vaccination rates are much higher. Who knows what will happen here? I don’t think anyone does yet, which is why it's probably sensible to err on the side of caution at the moment. I would hope any decisions made here can be reversed quickly when more is known about the severity of the Omicron variant, which most experts are saying should be in a couple of weeks time. I’m not holding my breath though. I’m not surprised about indoor events but I see no science which suggests outdoor events with a socially distanced, reduced capacity should be treated in this draconian way.

 

[Rempel16]

That is the single most ridiculous post I've ever read on the inferno, and that is saying a lot. What you're suggesting is anarchy, and if a club in a minor sport tried that we'd need shut down for good.

I'm glad I got the recognition there! Massive achievement.

By the way, my post was a little tongue in cheek, but as it's been questioned, I look forward to the Omicron rate being vastly diminished off the back of this ruling (spoiler - it won't be).

Ultimately, until herd immunity is achieved then no amount of lockdowns, crowd restrictions etc are going to change the spread and unfortunately we are going to lose a lot more businesses (including sports teams) whilst the same protocols keep repeating.

 

[Earnie]

It is nice to see all the helpful ideas put forward to support the club.

There is more danger of catching Covid in Queen Street crowds than in the ice rink.
Technically we can travel to Sheffield and sit in a 7000 crowd but can’t go to our 3000 ice rink.
’ere in Wales’ will have to ask Boris for a whole pile of money for £3m will be gone in a flash.

 

[Diablo3]

I think a lot of fans are more concerned about the club than their season ticket money. I doubt the club will let it come to that but I'm sure there's willing. Whatever your thoughts on the Welsh Gov, this is the correct course of action. The midnight timing was a bit crap but at least they are being proactive unlike the MIA Westminster shower.

But is it though. Yes there are a lot of cases but that isn't the figure we should be looking at. It seems to be a fixation these days. The important figures now are hospitalisations which especially in Wales, remain low. From all the data being shared from South Africa, the Omicron variant is not as harmful as Delta in all age groups.

There is a lot of focus on mental health at the moment and I don't think this will help at all.

 

[august04 2.0]

It is nice to see all the helpful ideas put forward to support the club.

There is more danger of catching Covid in Queen Street crowds than in the ice rink.
Technically we can travel to Sheffield and sit in a 7000 crowd but can’t go to our 3000 ice rink.
’ere in Wales’ will have to ask Boris for a whole pile of money for £3m will be gone in a flash.

Exactly. £3 million won't cover much, not after the football and rugby big boys have had their slice.

 

[James]

But is it though. Yes there are a lot of cases but that isn't the figure we should be looking at. It seems to be a fixation these days. The important figures now are hospitalisations which especially in Wales, remain low. From all the data being shared from South Africa, the Omicron variant is not as harmful as Delta in all age groups.

There is a lot of focus on mental health at the moment and I don't think this will help at all.

Until we know for definite how much more transmissible and how much less dangerous omicron is then yes I believe we do have to err on the side of caution for a couple of weeks at least. If its 5 times less deadly but 10 times more transmissible we are still going to get big hospital spikes. Without the benefit of hindsight we can't really know what the correct path is but hindsight throughout this pandemic has indicated the response has been too little to late time and time again, so I don't think a bit of caution till we know for sure will hurt. It'd be great if it does prove to be a very mild variant that we can deal with in the same way as the seasonal flu and get back to normal but we just don't know for certain yet

 

[TheRealJC]

The silly thing is, this now makes wearing a mask such an easy thing. I can't help but think that the Welsh government, like any other government, have a department that monitor social media. You can see on football, rugby, ice hockey forums/websites about the number of people moaning (quote rightly) about the number of people not wearing masks and ignoring social distancing etc, this made all sports an easy target for closure and behind closed doors games. I personally have chronic asthma and struggle to breathe in a mask, but I had covid 6 weeks ago and it was worse than any illness I've ever had, having to be brought oxygen by paramedics daily because there were no hospital beds available, so I've now been avoiding places like IAW and rugby/football etc, so as to not get it again. Its a small price to pay to stay well and to keep sports open. Maybe others should do the same rather than ruin our sport by not wearing masks and then complaining on public forums for the world to see. This is not a dig at the complainers, it's a dig at those that refuse. Rant over

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

This has nothing to do with masks. Mask wearing at the last few home games has been very good.

Sports are an easy target for restrictions. The vast majority of the public do not attend live sporting events so its quite an easy decision to make.

 

[Finny]

I don’t disagree cases are rising however hospitalisations and deaths aren’t …..we have been encouraged to be jabbed and get booster shots which I have done but why if it makes zero difference to what I can and can’t do? Oh I can go to pub and watch sport on TV !

Cases only started rising this week though. Any rise in hospitalisations wont be for another week or so. And then any increases in deaths would be two weeks after that.

Surely it’s better to err on the side of caution and try to slow/ flatten that curve than be overwhelmed and end up going into full lockdown come mid-Jan.

Getting the vaccine and booster means you are less likely to catch it, less likely to spread it, less likely to require hospital treatment and less likely to die.
If we hadn’t had the vaccines we would either be back in lockdown or in hospital/dead.

 

[Devil94]

If it's what the medical and science officers are telling the Welsh Gov then no complaints from me. Obviously gutted it's come to this but it is what it is, bigger things to worry about.
I'm fact I'm glad that the WG have acted quickly and listened to the advice given to them, instead of dithering and delaying like next door, who are already in a worse situation than us, and will inevitably call for stricter restrictions later on when it's too late and the horse has bolted.

 

[TheRealJC]

This has nothing to do with masks. Mask wearing at the last few home games has been very good.

Sports are an easy target for restrictions. The vast majority of the public do not attend live sporting events so its quite an easy decision to make.

Have you checked any sports forums regarding rules not being adhered to? There was a multi page thread on here in the last week, and it's also been happening on football and rugby pages. So maybe you're right about masks, but many other posters have disagreed with your view that it's been very good lately at IAW. Sports forums like this make sport a very easy target for restrictions, and whether we like it or not, it'll keep happening until people stick to the rules that are set out for us. It's really as simple as that. I hate not being able to go and watch, I really do, but we need to conform to the rules set out as a whole. And if we can't adhere to them, don't let the world know on public forums.

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

I've been at every home game at the IAW bar one. Mask wearing at the last few games has been very good.