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Edmonton Elks cancel walkthrough due to COVID-19 protocols

Aug 6, 2021 | 10:46 AM

EDMONTON — Officials with the Edmonton Elks say the team has cancelled its scheduled walkthrough and media availability due to COVID-19 protocols.

The team did not elaborate, but say in a brief statement that further updates will be provided as they become available.

The cancellation comes days after the league announced its COVID-19 policy.

Under the CFL policy, if a contest is cancelled because of COVID-19 issues and can’t be rescheduled, the club suffering from the COVID-19 issues will forfeit a 1-0 loss. Should both squads have issues, they’ll forfeit the game and be assigned losses.

In either scenario, if a team can prove at least 85 per cent of its players under contract have been vaccinated, at least once, the players will receive their salary for the cancelled game. If that figure falls below 85 per cent, players won’t be paid.

The policy has been criticized by the CFL Players’ Association, which called the policy’s contents “unreasonable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press