canadiens coach tests postive for covid after 2nd vaccine dose
people they are not fully vaccinated until two weeks after their second shot, expert warns.
jun 20 2021
3 minute read
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by: michelle lalonde, montreal gazette
canadiens head coach dominique ducharme’s positive covid test should serve as a reminder partially vaccinated people can contract the virus, an infectious diseases expert warned saturday.
ducharme’s covid-19 test was administered on june 17, only eight days after he received his second dose of the vaccine. the test came back positive, but a spokesperson for the canadiens said ducharme is still feeling fine.
“dominique is feeling well and he is looking forward to coming back with us as soon as possible,” paul wilson, principal vice-president of groupe ch, the parent company of the canadiens, told the montreal gazette by email saturday afternoon.
wilson confirmed all of the players, coaches and other staff also received their second doses on june 9.
ducharme was immediately isolated from the players, other coaches and staff, and assistant coach luke richardson took over head-coaching duties for
game 3 of the stanley cup semifinal series against the vegas golden knights on friday night.
dr. matthew oughton, a specialist in infectious diseases, said the high-profile positive test after a second dose should remind people they are not fully vaccinated until two weeks after their second shot.
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almost 80 per cent of eligible quebecers have received one dose and about 18 per cent have received two.
“this serves to emphasize … that you are not fully protected until a bare minimum of two weeks after your second dose and (ducharme) certainly falls into that category” of the partially vaccinated, oughton said.
he pointed to recent data out of the united kingdom looking at the protection provided by the astrazeneca and pfizer vaccines against the super-contagious delta variant after one dose versus two. the vaccines provided only about 35- to 40-per-cent protection against hospitalization after one dose, but the rate of protection went beyond 90 per cent two weeks after a second dose.
delta is the dominant variant circulating in the u.k. now and is considered to be 40- to 60-per-cent more transmissible than the alpha variant, which is what scientists are now calling the variant originally discovered in the u.k. quebec has begun to see cases of the delta variant in recent weeks.
“there really is a major difference between partial vaccination and full vaccination in terms of the protection that you have from some of these very contagious variants, like delta,” oughton said, stressing he has no information about what type of covid-19 virus ducharme has contracted.
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“i hope that he is like the vast majority of people who are partially vaccinated, but still test positive. those people, generally speaking, do not get very sick, and they tend, therefore, to recover more quickly and tend to not be very infectious. i certainly hope for his own sake, and for the sake of the team, that this is the case for him.”
asked to comment on the many published photographs of ducharme talking to players while wearing his mask on his chin, oughton said all partially vaccinated people need to be vigilant about following the rules.
“protecting those around us, as well as ourselves, still means keeping our distance, that still means wearing masks properly. we don’t breathe through our chin, so wearing a mask on your chin means that it’s not doing its job.”
oughton said it is understandable people are feeling some relief lately. “people are thinking: ‘we deserve it. we’ve been through so much. look the habs are making it really deep into the playoffs, let’s kick back and finally enjoy ourselves.’ ”
but he said it reminds him of travellers returning home from countries where there is a risk of contracting malaria who stop taking anti-malaria drugs when they get home.
“people are good about taking their meds while they’re travelling. but as soon as they hop on the plane home they think: ‘okay, we’re good. i can stop,’ and then they develop malaria one or two weeks afterward. this is the exact same phenomenon. (people are thinking) ‘oh good, we are really smoking this disease. all of our numbers are good. the cases are coming down, the hospitals are opening up, it’s beautiful outside, the habs are in the playoffs, let’s go and celebrate.’ ”
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but it’s not quite time for that, oughton warned.
“we are getting it under control, but it is not all the way under control. and there is a very big difference between those two things.”
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