Due to the pandemic, the University of Nebraska Medical Center ice rink will be closed this season.
"As a former amateur hockey player, I very much understand the lure of the ice," said Ted Cieslak, MD, executive director for health security at UNMC. "It distresses me and adds to the many disappointments we've suffered at the hands of COVID-19, to recommend against opening our beautiful ice rink to skating and curling."
The rink typically draws thousands of people each year from the medical center campus and community at-large.
As COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, Dr. Cieslak said the participation of large numbers of skaters, many of them young children, in an activity associated with significant exertion, risks the health of the medical center's students, staff and families, as well as the public.
The ice skating season typically runs from late November until early February.
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