Self-isolation rules keeping teams out of PEI Scotties and Brier qualifiers (CBC PEI)

Posted on by January 27, 2021
Curl P.E.I. suspects the province’s self-isolation rules are behind a poor turnout in this year’s Scotties and Brier provincial qualifiers. 

Both events are going ahead this weekend in O’Leary, with just two women’s and two men’s teams competing for the right to represent the Island at the national curling championships in Calgary, slated for late February and early March. 

Suzanne Birt already knows she’s heading to Calgary for the Scotties because her rink has earned a wild-card spot. (Steve Bruce/CBC )
“This is the smallest provincials I’ve ever been a part of,” said Suzanne Birt, the skip for one of the two women’s teams competing, and the Island’s representative at the Scotties the past two years.

But Birt said she’s hardly surprised.   

P.E.I.’s representatives will have to enter a curling bubble in Calgary for up to two weeks, sticking to their hotel rooms and the arena. There’ll be no friends, family, or other fans allowed inside the bubble.

 

Four weeks in self-isolation is a big commitment for curlers, says Peter Gallant of Curl P.E.I. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

Then upon their return to P.E.I., curlers will have to self-isolate for another 14 days.

“[Curling] is what we love to do,” said Birt.

“But at the same time, it’s a little disheartening thinking about your family, that you have to be away from them for a month.… It’s a lot to take on, and a lot of commitment from the team and our families.”

Click to read the full story by Steve Bruce at CBC PEI

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