Alaska officials probing COVID-19 outbreak at hockey tourney

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Anchorage public health officials said they are investigating a coronavirus outbreak from a youth hockey tournament that drew teams from around Alaska.

More than 300 players, coaches and fans were in attendance at the Termination Dust Invitational over a three-day period last weekend, officials said. Teams came from nine cities across the state.

Local health officials did not provide specific numbers as to how many people tested positive for the virus as a result of the event, but tournament organizers said they first learned of a positive case on one of the teams on Monday. They also said they knew of two teams with a positive case each.

“We are barely several weeks into the fall season and there have been multiple positive cases, in several areas of the State, with players, parents and coaches,” Anna Culley, the hockey association’s coronavirus chairman, said in a Facebook post.

Anchorage has reported 725 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the last 10 days. There are 95 people on a list of contacts within the past week who still have not been contacted by state contact tracers, the Anchorage Daily News reported.