"You can only control so much. If you want to get technical about it, the players shouldn't even be passing the ball to each other."
That's former head trainer for the Atlanta Hawks, David Wharton, on trying to keep players from passing the flu to each other.
"If someone in the pile got it, then we all got it."
That's Eric Staal, center for the Minnesota Wild hockey team, talking about mumps, and about how it could have spread during the team's celebration of its overtime victory against L.A. in late February.
A few weeks before the Wild were congratulating each other on their win, the flu was running through the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was a big deal because it came as they were preparing for their AFC Championship game against the Patriots. Imagine spending millions of dollars and months of effort, while carrying the hopes of a city, and then mumps or the flu keeps players from performing. So it's not surprising to see a report like this one from ESPN...
"The recent mumps outbreak in the NHL led to emergency team-wide immunizations, occasional player quarantines, the cancellation of holiday hospital visits and a re-examination of the league's infectious disease prevention policies."
Makes sense. But hold on. That report was from 2014. That was the previous outbreak. So today we ask...
What have sports teams learned about protecting their workplace teams?
And, do their precautions really make a difference?
At STC, we believe in sharing innovative ideas. If you have ideas for better data around immunizations, or for thought-leaders we could profile, please pass them along...
