Department of Pediatrics, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, 620 S. Taylor Ave, Northwest Tower 10113, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
BMC Infect Dis. 2022 May 11;22(1):450. doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07448-6.
Concerns that athletes may be at a higher risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission has led to reduced participation in sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to assess COVID-19 incidence and transmission during the spring 2021 high school and college water polo seasons across the United States.
This prospective observational study enrolled 1825 water polo athletes from 54 high schools and 36 colleges. Surveys were sent to coaches throughout the season, and survey data were collected and analyzed.
We identified 17 COVID-19 cases among 1223 high school water polo athletes (1.4%) and 66 cases among 602 college athletes (11.0%). Of these cases, contact tracing suggested that three were water polo-associated in high school, and none were water polo-associated in college. Quarantine data suggest low transmission during water polo play as only three out of 232 (1.3%) high school athletes quarantined for a water polo-related exposure developed COVID-19. In college, none of the 54 athletes quarantined for exposure with an infected opponent contracted COVID-19. However, in both high school and college, despite the physical condition of water polo athletes, both high school (47%) and college athletes (21%) had prolonged return to play after contracting COVID-19, indicating the danger of COVID-19, even to athletes.
While COVID-19 spread can occur during water polo play, few instances of spread occurred during the spring 2021 season, and transmission rates appear similar to those in other settings, such as school environments.
由于担心运动员感染严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）的风险较高，因此在 COVID-19 大流行期间，运动员参与体育运动的人数减少。我们旨在评估 2021 年春季美国高中和大学水球赛季期间 COVID-19 的发病率和传播情况。
本前瞻性观察研究纳入了来自 54 所高中和 36 所大学的 1825 名水球运动员。在整个赛季中向教练发送了调查，收集并分析了调查数据。
我们在 1223 名高中水球运动员中发现了 17 例 COVID-19 病例（1.4%），在 602 名大学生运动员中发现了 66 例（11.0%）。在这些病例中，通过接触者追踪，有 3 例在高中水球相关，而在大学水球中则无相关病例。隔离数据表明，在水球比赛中传播风险较低，因为在 232 名因水球相关接触而被隔离的高中学员中，仅有 3 人（1.3%）出现 COVID-19。在大学，没有一名因与感染对手接触而被隔离的运动员感染 COVID-19。但是，在高中和大学中，尽管水球运动员的身体状况良好，但在感染 COVID-19 后，高中（47%）和大学运动员（21%）的康复时间都很长，这表明 COVID-19 即使对运动员也存在危险。
尽管 COVID-19 可能在水球比赛期间传播，但在 2021 年春季赛季期间，传播的情况很少发生，并且传播率似乎与其他环境（例如学校环境）相似。
