Rumor: Auston Matthews has tested positive for COVID-19.

[Fogelhund]

Absolutely true. My entire house was sick, my condition was really bad for a few days, got tested came negative, my dads came positive. He, unfortunately,lost the battle with covid. But i remember how sick i was, being unable to breathe, constant coughing, literally could not take more than 5 steps without breathing heavy. Had all the same symptoms as my father. Although i didn't re-take the test, im absolutely positive i contracted the virus as well.

My most sincere condolences for your loss. Terrible disease, and bad times we live in.

 

[AvroArrow]

Thats upsetting to hear. I'm sorry for your loss? How are you feeling now?

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

This whole testing thing is pretty bad when no one can seem to give you a definitive answer on how many of these tests we are getting right.

Timothy Sly, a professor emeritus at Ryerson University's School of Occupational and Public Health, says this is the difference between a test's sensitivity and its specificity.
"The sensitivity is to say: How many of the true positives have we really got? And therefore, the others are false. And the specificity is: How many of the true negatives were we able to find? And of course the others are false," he says.
Many factors can affect these outcomes, including the quality of the sample itself, the type of tools used to obtain and assess the sample, and at what stage of infection the sample was obtained. Patterson said that variability makes it hard to define a hard-and-fast accuracy rate.
"False negatives can occur, certainly up to 30 per cent of the time if we swab people who are asymptomatic and swab them too soon after they've been exposed to COVID-19," said Patterson.
"False positives depend a lot on the machine itself, but also how much COVID-19 is in a town or community that you're assessing or sampling. And so it's really hard to nail down a rate that applies to every machine that we use."

Testing negative for the coronavirus doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and experts say the high rate of false negatives could mean many cases aren't being caught.
A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine from researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found the effectiveness of RT-PCR tests, the most common type of test for the coronavirus globally, varies dramatically over the course of COVID-19 infection.
In the first few days before symptoms typically show up, researchers found, the chance of getting a false negative result ranged from 100 per cent on Day 1 to 67 per cent on Day 4.
After symptoms began to show, false negative results fell to 38 per cent on Day 5 and to 20 per cent on Day 8 – but rose again everyday after that.
That means at best, COVID-19 patients were found to have a one in five chance of getting a negative test result during their infection even if they were actually positive.
"The important takeaway is that we know the false negative rate is very high," said Lauren Kucirka, a resident physician at Johns Hopkins and a lead author of the study.

 

[nsleaf]

This whole testing thing is pretty bad when no one can seem to give you a definitive answer on how many of these tests we are getting right.

Timothy Sly, a professor emeritus at Ryerson University's School of Occupational and Public Health, says this is the difference between a test's sensitivity and its specificity.
"The sensitivity is to say: How many of the true positives have we really got? And therefore, the others are false. And the specificity is: How many of the true negatives were we able to find? And of course the others are false," he says.
Many factors can affect these outcomes, including the quality of the sample itself, the type of tools used to obtain and assess the sample, and at what stage of infection the sample was obtained. Patterson said that variability makes it hard to define a hard-and-fast accuracy rate.
"False negatives can occur, certainly up to 30 per cent of the time if we swab people who are asymptomatic and swab them too soon after they've been exposed to COVID-19," said Patterson.
"False positives depend a lot on the machine itself, but also how much COVID-19 is in a town or community that you're assessing or sampling. And so it's really hard to nail down a rate that applies to every machine that we use."

Testing negative for the coronavirus doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and experts say the high rate of false negatives could mean many cases aren't being caught.
A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine from researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found the effectiveness of RT-PCR tests, the most common type of test for the coronavirus globally, varies dramatically over the course of COVID-19 infection.
In the first few days before symptoms typically show up, researchers found, the chance of getting a false negative result ranged from 100 per cent on Day 1 to 67 per cent on Day 4.
After symptoms began to show, false negative results fell to 38 per cent on Day 5 and to 20 per cent on Day 8 – but rose again everyday after that.
That means at best, COVID-19 patients were found to have a one in five chance of getting a negative test result during their infection even if they were actually positive.
"The important takeaway is that we know the false negative rate is very high," said Lauren Kucirka, a resident physician at Johns Hopkins and a lead author of the study.

Hence the designation as a novel virus. It's new and folks still have lots to learn.

 

[Stephen]

Absolutely true. My entire house was sick, my condition was really bad for a few days, got tested came negative, my dads came positive. He, unfortunately,lost the battle with covid. But i remember how sick i was, being unable to breathe, constant coughing, literally could not take more than 5 steps without breathing heavy. Had all the same symptoms as my father. Although i didn't re-take the test, im absolutely positive i contracted the virus as well.

I’m very sorry to hear about how Covid has affected you and your family. But thank you for sharing this personal story as it’s very important for people to hear these real personal experiences to understand the real dangers.

Seems like too often people get too sidetracked by the politics, conspiracy theories, argumentative about the economy, sports, wanting to have their usual summers and pseudo science around this and lose sight of what’s really important and that is the safety of individuals and the community.

Again, very sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[93LEAFS]

This is going to be such a gong show. It can't be worth it.

NHL is only concerned about getting the rest of this years TV payout. Delaying next season is probably in the best interests of the league until they can put fans in the stands. A bunch of teams would go into bankruptcy if they attempted a full season with no fans. Do I think its stupid and against the spirit of the game? Absolutely. From a business and overall economic health of the league standpoint, I get the desperation.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

This whole testing thing is pretty bad when no one can seem to give you a definitive answer on how many of these tests we are getting right.

Timothy Sly, a professor emeritus at Ryerson University's School of Occupational and Public Health, says this is the difference between a test's sensitivity and its specificity.
"The sensitivity is to say: How many of the true positives have we really got? And therefore, the others are false. And the specificity is: How many of the true negatives were we able to find? And of course the others are false," he says.
Many factors can affect these outcomes, including the quality of the sample itself, the type of tools used to obtain and assess the sample, and at what stage of infection the sample was obtained. Patterson said that variability makes it hard to define a hard-and-fast accuracy rate.
"False negatives can occur, certainly up to 30 per cent of the time if we swab people who are asymptomatic and swab them too soon after they've been exposed to COVID-19," said Patterson.
"False positives depend a lot on the machine itself, but also how much COVID-19 is in a town or community that you're assessing or sampling. And so it's really hard to nail down a rate that applies to every machine that we use."

Testing negative for the coronavirus doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and experts say the high rate of false negatives could mean many cases aren't being caught.
A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine from researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found the effectiveness of RT-PCR tests, the most common type of test for the coronavirus globally, varies dramatically over the course of COVID-19 infection.
In the first few days before symptoms typically show up, researchers found, the chance of getting a false negative result ranged from 100 per cent on Day 1 to 67 per cent on Day 4.
After symptoms began to show, false negative results fell to 38 per cent on Day 5 and to 20 per cent on Day 8 – but rose again everyday after that.
That means at best, COVID-19 patients were found to have a one in five chance of getting a negative test result during their infection even if they were actually positive.
"The important takeaway is that we know the false negative rate is very high," said Lauren Kucirka, a resident physician at Johns Hopkins and a lead author of the study.

Timothy Sly breaking down the confusion matrix. I find the terminology for confusion matrices to be completely unnecessary and weird, probably because I don't use them all that often, but I guess you've got to call all of the outcomes something.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Timothy Sly breaking down the confusion matrix. I find the terminology for confusion matrices to be completely unnecessary and weird, probably because I don't use them all that often, but I guess you've got to call all of the outcomes something.

Yeah the more EXPERTS I listen to or read on testing i only get more confused ... but I have figured out testing gives you a decent overall picture BUT at an individual level it is as useless as you know what on a bull

 

[Kiwi]

Revealing Matthews tested positive for Covid19 serves no public interest. This is celebrity tabloid level journalism, not investigative journalism. But then again the Simmonds does write for a tabloid.

Bull**** it doesn't

He's a professional athelete, one of the faces of his sport who just contracted a highly contagious communicable disease as the sports about to start up again

If that isn't in the public interest nothing is

 

[Clark4Ever]

Bull**** it doesn't

He's a professional athelete, one of the faces of his sport who just contracted a highly contagious communicable disease as the sports about to start up again

If that isn't in the public interest nothing is

Numerous high profile athletes have tested positive in every professional sport around the world as of late. The NHL has a policy to not reveal their identities, which I totally understand and respect.

It serves the public interest whether player identities are revealed or not. Simmons crossed the line, again.

 

[Clark4Ever]

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

That is horrifying.

 

[Menzinger]

NHL is only concerned about getting the rest of this years TV payout. Delaying next season is probably in the best interests of the league until they can put fans in the stands. A bunch of teams would go into bankruptcy if they attempted a full season with no fans. Do I think its stupid and against the spirit of the game? Absolutely. From a business and overall economic health of the league standpoint, I get the desperation.

Its definitely a lose lose situation.

While at this point i wont be surprised of the players opt to potentially block the playoffs, not finishing this season will make that financial whole even bigger which could have unknown consequences.

Im not expecting the next season to start until next Spring though at the earliest.

 

[93LEAFS]

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

My deepest condolences to you and your friends family. That shit is truly horrible.

 

[93LEAFS]

Its definitely a lose lose situation.

While at this point i wont be surprised of the players opt to potentially block the playoffs, not finishing this season will make that financial whole even bigger which could have unknown consequences.

Im not expecting the next season to start until next Spring though at the earliest.

I don't think players are going to fight too hard to block it. They aren't high-risk, and they likely risk losing millions of dollars between this year's escrow and whatever contracts are negotiated down to, to make a viable cap for next season.

Out of all the big leagues, the NHL is in by far the worst position when it comes to the prospect of no fans. Too many franchises were viable due to revenue-sharing, and the belief even if you lose money franchise values will increase. With franchises being illiquid right now and having significantly depressed values on the open market (likely making them even harder to borrow against) I can't see a season with even limited fan access as viable.

 

[Kiwi]

Numerous high profile athletes have tested positive in every professional sport around the world as of late. The NHL has a policy to not reveal their identities, which I totally understand and respect.

It serves the public interest whether player identities are revealed or not. Simmons crossed the line, again.

No, if it's a properly sorced and factual article he's well within his rights to publish it

It's clearly newsworthy

 

[Menzinger]

No, if it's a properly sorced and factual article he's well within his rights to publish it

It's clearly newsworthy

I think theres a gap here between "should" vs "can" when it comes to this type of news. The fact that other media types likely knew about it but opted not to publish themsleves likely shows that peer journalists didnt think the story was something that needed tk be made public

 

[Gabriel426]

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

Once again, sorry about your loss and thanks for sharing your stories.
People need to realize this is not the flu and could be life threatening and the fact that getting on an airplane with the knowledge that they are tested positive is completely selfish.

 

[Gabriel426]

No, if it's a properly sorced and factual article he's well within his rights to publish it

It's clearly newsworthy

If AM and his camp is being silence, the League is being quiet, where can Simmons confirm AM is being tested positive?
Also the protocol for the League is to remain the players private, what’s make Simmons above that?
Djokovic got tested positive and it is all over the news, mainly due to his charity tournament... but would it be diff, if the report is One of the Top Rated Man Tennis Player got tested positive?

 

[Kiwi]

I think theres a gap here between "should" vs "can" when it comes to this type of news. The fact that other media types likely knew about it but opted not to publish themsleves likely shows that peer journalists didnt think the story was something that needed tk be made public

If it's newsworthy it should be published because once journalists start sitting on story's biases will end up dictating what does and does not get published

It's newsworthy, he published it, he's well within his rights
The end

If AM and his camp is being silence, the League is being quiet, where can Simmons confirm AM is being tested positive?
Also the protocol for the League is to remain the players private, what’s make Simmons above that?
Djokovic got tested positive and it is all over the news, mainly due to his charity tournament... but would it be diff, if the report is One of the Top Rated Man Tennis Player got tested positive?

We call those anonymous sources

That's the league's prerogative, last I looked Simmonds doesn't work for them he's what we call a journalist

If Djokovic didn't want his health status out there that's his prerogative, but if a reporter got verifiable information he had COVID a reporter would be well within his rights to print he has it

 

[93LEAFS]

I think theres a gap here between "should" vs "can" when it comes to this type of news. The fact that other media types likely knew about it but opted not to publish themsleves likely shows that peer journalists didnt think the story was something that needed tk be made public

I'm sure a bunch of journalists would have wanted to publish it if they could, but their desks wouldn't clear it. It's pretty clear Simmons went through the proper protocols of the Sun and they deemed it newsworthy. It just shows how lacking The Sun is as a paper.

 

[Stephen]

No, if it's a properly sorced and factual article he's well within his rights to publish it

It's clearly newsworthy

We're all sitting on a hockey message board in the middle of June, so safe to say this audience likes consuming hockey information, good bad and ugly, so the leak serves our curiosity.

But at the same time, a Toronto Maple Leaf deserves the same protections as any other NHL player as dictated by their policy, and when Simmons violates that, he hurts the Toronto Maple Leafs and its players. And our interests as fans.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

It's a very strange time. We realized just how selfish and cruel people really are. Like i almost feel bad for feeling bad about losing my dad, when i look at my friend.

His father and my father both worked as airport limo drivers at Pearson, picking up passengers who just came from international flights. So my dads friend (who was about 50 years old) picked up a passenger drove him home (about an hour) this was early-mid March. When he arrived at his destination the passenger told him "I'm sorry i had no other way to get home but i have Covid, so please be safe and careful and go isolate". Naturally he freaked out and stopped going to work, within the week his entire house hold got sick. Within 2 weeks my fathers friend passed away from covid, both of his parents who were in their 70s passed away from covid, his wife was still in ICU (she recovered). My friend lost both his grand parents and dad, and it's just him and his mother left. All because some asshole who knew he was sick used his dads taxi to get home.

It's a very frightening time and when you hear about shit like that it makes it even worse. It's scary enough what the virus is doing, secondly the testing is not 100% accurate, third of all people who KNOW they are sick are still going out into public.

That person needs to be charged and buried beneath the prison.

Negligent homicide at the very least. Id even venture that intent is proven by trying to circumvent the federal protocols put in place.

 

[Gabriel426]

If it's newsworthy it should be published because once journalists start sitting on story's biases will end up dictating what does and does not get published

It's newsworthy, he published it, he's well within his rights
The end



We call those anonymous sources

That's the league's prerogative, last I looked Simmonds doesn't work for them he's what we call a journalist

If Djokovic didn't want his health status out there that's his prerogative, but if a reporter got verifiable information he had COVID a reporter would be well within his rights to print he has it

How can a journalist verify his source if the League and the players are keeping quiet.
Let’s assume someone just drop AM got tested positive on his desk. How can he verified if everyone is keeping quiet.
Just bc someone lived next door to AM and said he tested positive is as much weight as I claim Reilly is being test positive bc we go to the same private club in West Van and see him everyday since March but he has not been there since three weeks ago(assuming he is not in TO for camp).
Point is, if everyone in the league is following protocol and staying quiet, I really don’t see how Simmons can verified his source. If someone at the League leaked out info about AM, 1. Those individuals are accountable and 2. What is the reason behind leaking AM info to Simmons? Hatred of AM and Leafs or Monetary? If it is the latter, not a lawyer but that’s got to be illegal.

 

[Stephen]

How can a journalist verify his source if the League and the players are keeping quiet.
Let’s assume someone just drop AM got tested positive on his desk. How can he verified if everyone is keeping quiet.
Just bc someone lived next door to AM and said he tested positive is as much weight as I claim Reilly is being test positive bc we go to the same private club in West Van and see him everyday since March but he has not been there since three weeks ago(assuming he is not in TO for camp).
Point is, if everyone in the league is following protocol and staying quiet, I really don’t see how Simmons can verified his source. If someone at the League leaked out info about AM, 1. Those individuals are accountable and 2. What is the reason behind leaking AM info to Simmons? Hatred of AM and Leafs or Monetary? If it is the latter, not a lawyer but that’s got to be illegal.

A couple of days before Steve Simmons broke the news, there was some chatter in the Twitter/podcast world of insiders that hinted at some big names testing positive for Coronavirus in Arizona. Basically we're likely dealing with gossip, "word on the street" coming from former college players training in that area. Wouldn't be surprised if Simmons just DM'ed the source and "confirmed" it that way. Matthews was outside the sphere of protection from the Leafs cone of silence and outside of an NHL environment.

 

[Gabriel426]

A couple of days before Steve Simmons broke the news, there was some chatter in the Twitter/podcast world of insiders that hinted at some big names testing positive for Coronavirus in Arizona. Basically we're likely dealing with gossip, "word on the street" coming from former college players training in that area. Wouldn't be surprised if Simmons just DM'ed the source and "confirmed" it that way. Matthews was outside the sphere of protection from the Leafs cone of silence and outside of an NHL environment.

But it could be someone starting that tweet. What’s solid prove did that person got?
And why would Simmons believe that 100%.
Point I am trying to make is that no matter how Simmons got the source, tips, infos...there is no way he can confirm that unless someone close to AM or someone who has access to AM medical records.