We're Not Out Of The Woods Yet

How picturesque is that image to the left? If you're wondering, that's Reykjavik, Iceland, and that city was supposed to play host to Round One of the IIHF Women's Olympic Pre-Qualification tournament from August 26 to 29. That tournament, like so many others, has now been cancelled with what the IIHF describes as a "deteriorating Covid-19 situation in Iceland and the quarantine rules for the participants that would not make it possible for them to take part in the event." You might be rolling your eyes at Iceland's situation, but there's a very good reason why we should be watching their situation very closely.

For those that haven't been following the worldwide vaccination efforts, Iceland has been one of the few countries to have more than 85% of its total population vaccinated with at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to Clarisa Diaz from Quartz, "[c]ovid-19 vaccines were first administered in Iceland at the end of 2020; by mid-July, every resident over the age of 16 was offered a shot," resulting in "96% of females and 90% of males 16 years or older" receiving at least one shot of the vaccine.

As we know, a second shot makes one's resilience in the face of the virus much better, but to have a population that is more than 85% vaccinated with at least one shot is better than most other countries on the planet. What should worry people is that the case count in Iceland has skyrocketed since mid-July as the Delta variant found its way to Iceland's shores. Hospitalizations remain low, thankfully, but the fact that people are getting ill due to COVID-19 despite being vaccinated is worrisome.

Jelena Ćirić of Iceland Review reported on August 5 that there were "154 new cases yesterday and 1,391 active cases" since this new wave of cases hit Iceland, up from two cases at the start of July. That's a significant increase, and the hospitals in Iceland are already near capacity with COVID patients and other people seeking medical treatment. Holding a hockey tournament with countries who may bring more of the variant in just seems unwise at this point based on all this evidence.

Iceland, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, and Lithuania were scheduled to participate in this first tournament, but it was Bulgaria who decided that sending a team to Iceland wasn't worth the risk as they withdrew from the tournament. This withdrawal kills any hope of seeing Hong Kong, Bulgaria, or Lithuania at the Olympics as the IIHF has decided to proceed with Round Two of the tournament rather than rescheduling. As a result, Iceland, as the top-seeded team at the Round One tournament, will play in the Round Two tournament from October 7 to 10 in Gangneung, South Korea as the qualifier from the Round One tournament.

What does this all mean? Well, Bulgaria seemingly had an issue with either the rising case count or the quarantine protocols that Iceland and the IIHF had in place for this tournament, so it seems they're to blame for Hong Kong and Lithuania missing out on an Olympic dream. For a country that has a very low vaccination rate - 15.1% fully vaccinated - seeing the rising case numbers in Iceland likely gave them some concern, especially if the women national hockey team have the same numbers as the country in terms of being fully vaccinated.

Iceland, who moves on to the Round Two tournament, misses out on a chance to fine-tune their team in the August Round One tournament, and will now have to face some tougher competition without that action as a feather in their caps. In Korea, they're play the host South Korean team, Great Britain, and Slovenia in that qualifying tournament, and will need to emerge victorious to play in the final qualifying tournament where there are some rather big teams like Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, and others awaiting them.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the bigger picture in terms of Iceland's overall situation is that the vaccine isn't some impenetrable wall of defence against COVID-19, and we still need to be diligent in our efforts to protect ourselves from a variant that doesn't care if you have been vaccinated. That means being vaccinated if you haven't already received the shots in order to prtect yourself, your family and friends, and the general population. That means wearing masks and respecting distances between strangers. That means using common sense and treating this virus like a communicable disease that has both short- and long-term effects on your health if you're not taking all measures to protect yourself and, by proxy, the people around you.

It also comes down to a simple reality that more and more venues, events, and places where large gatherings occur will require you to vaccinate if you want to attend. People will argue, whine, fight, complain, yell, scream, cry, and show any other irrational response to this rule, but it's going to be in place until this virus finds the same death as polio. Get used to showing proof of vaccination, folks, because it's part of life now.

I hope Iceland can get this swell of cases under control, and I'm hoping that the Icelandic Women's National Team fares well in Korea in October without having played meaningful games in some time. While cancelling an IIHF hockey tournament for Olympic participation is a huge disappointment for a number of teams, sometimes hockey comes second when it comes to having healthy fans who can cheer on the national team.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!