The province announced 183 new COVID cases on Tuesday. Curling icon Sherry Anderson empathizes with all of those people.
In a conversation on Tuesday’s Sports Cage, the 7-time Saskatchewan Scotties champion revealed she contracted COVID-19 in November.
“I’ve done my quarantine and I was sick for a few days and I seem to be recovered. Not knowing fully what recovery time is and how it affects your body in the future…I’m not certain about that. But right now I’m doing okay.
“Physically it was not that bad for very many days. I was sick for two days–chills, bad headache, achy like you would with the flu or a bad cold.”
Anderson, 56, says she contracted COVID playing the game she loves.
“We were actually curling in a ‘spiel in Regina at the Highland a few weeks ago. And there was somebody there that didn’t know they were sick. So we did everything that the Health Authority wanted us to do–we wore masks in the lobby and in the building. We did not go out on the ice because that wasn’t mandated. And I actually thought that that would be a safe environment. You know, you kind of keep your distance from everybody. But a lot of people ended up testing positive from that event.”
The province alerted the public about a November outbreak linked to bonspiels in Regina. It’s unknown how many infections are directly linked to those events. But cases have been rising steadily in Saskatchewan. In Tuesday’s update the province revealed the seven-day average of cases to be 264 per day.
Anderson says “A lot of people I know personally that got infected, they said ‘Oh well. It’s just a cold. I get a cold in December’. Or ‘I got a pain in my back, but I always have back pain.’ ‘I got a rash on my foot but I didn’t think anything of it.’ And on and on and on. No wonder it spreads because nobody knows (they have it) and you’re very contagious for 48 hours before you ever even show any symptoms.”
While her physical symptoms are mostly gone Anderson says a different kind of pain lingers.
“What hit me was the mental part of it. Because there were so many people in my circle that got infected that you’re worried about them,” Anderson says. “So it’s tough that way. And there was one that ended up in hospital in ICU. She’s hopefully getting out tomorrow, so that’s good news. But, it’s tough.
“I’m still torn as to what the takeaway from all this is. I hope now my friends and family that have gotten infected, I hope we have some immunity to it and will be okay for a few months, and everybody recovers fully and feels okay. But it is scary. And I think people need to try to curb their contact as much as they can especially over the holiday season and stay safe.”
Anderson says she hopes to return to the ice for any qualifying for the Scotties that may happen. CurlSask says it has multiple plans for how to name a provincial representative, after announcing that Estevan will not host this year’s championships as was originally scheduled.
