THUNDER BAY -- University athletes in Thunder Bay will be getting an unexpected extended Christmas break.
Ontario University Sports on Friday announced it was pausing all sports through Jan. 24 as a way to combat rising COVID-19 cases, in particular those caused by the Omicron variant.
All programming, which was scheduled to resume on Jan. 6, is affected.
"This decision and corresponding timeline have been established in an effort to better allow member institutions to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student-life programming and allow for student-athletes to have sufficient time to properly train and prepare for the winter championship stretch run," reads the release.
The OUA board of directors plan to continue to assess the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be prepared to extend this pause beyond Jan. 24 if necessary.
