Scotties match between Northwest Territories, Canada postponed due to illness in bubble
Game rescheduled after suspected case of food poisoning
The Saturday afternoon curling game between Northwest Territories and Team Canada has been postponed after a member of Kerry Galusha's Yellowknife foursome fell ill in the middle of the night Friday with a suspected case of food poisoning.
Galusha, speaking exclusively to CBC Sports, said they found out the game was cancelled Saturday afternoon.
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"We had to report an illness. Curling Canada made the decision to postpone it," she said from her hotel room in Calgary.
"The team member was feeling ill in the middle of the night."
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All members of Galusha's rink are now isolating in separate rooms in the hotel as they await a negative test result from the player who is ill.
The game has been moved to Monday morning.
"The doctor came and saw her and took her temperature. She has to do another test and until she is cleared we have to isolate in our rooms," Galusha said.
"A member of Team Northwest Territories came down with a suspected case of food poisoning overnight. She has been assessed by the event's Chief Medical Officer, and it is believed that this will not impact the team's ability to continue in the event," the statement read. "The rest of the team is not showing any similar symptoms, and have all tested negative on previous COVID tests, as recently as Friday, and have passed all twice-daily wellness checks, including this morning.
"The player will receive a COVID PCR test today, and out of an abundance of caution, the decision has been made to reschedule this afternoon's Northwest Territories-Canada game to Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET, which was to be a bye in the schedule for all teams. The Northwest Territories team will self-isolate until the results of the test are known."
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Curlers have had to provide three negative tests before the competition. Saturday marks the first full day of competition at this year's Scotties.
Galusha's team lost to Northern Ontario 8-7 on Friday evening.
While Galusha did express concern over the situation unfolding in the bubble, she was quick to praise Curling Canada for the way they're handling everything so far.
"They have protocols, Curling Canada was on top of it. They've been very informative. It's safety first. Teams need to report if there's an illness," she said.
"I think Curling Canada has done an amazing job. I know things have gone off the rails the first couple days but they've handled themselves so well and have been in contact with us."
