After Finland and Canada were forced to postpone their Olympic women's hockey opener due to a Norovirus outbreak impacting 13 members of Team Finland, Switzerland has their first confirmed case of the virus, which caused the team to skip the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
After Canada and Finland's Olympic women's hockey opener was postponed from February 5 to February 12, the spread of Norovirus continues in the Olympic women's hockey world.
Switzerland's women's hockey team was forced to skip the Olympic opening ceremonies only hours after upsetting Czechia in a shootout win to open their tournament. The entire team entered isolation after a positive Norovirus test on their roster.
"The athlete's positive test result was only received after today's opening victory against the Czech Republic and shortly before the opening ceremony," the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation said in a translated statement. "The affected athlete had been housed in a single room since arriving at the Olympic Village on Monday, February 2, 2026, and isolated from the team since the onset of symptoms. She has been symptom-free since this morning. As a precautionary measure, the team was isolated after the match, in close consultation with the on-site medical team and after consulting with experts."
According to the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation, no other Swiss players have shown symptoms of the stomach virus to date.
Switzerland is scheduled to face Team Canada Saturday, the same Canadian team that already had their tournament schedule condensed due to Finland's own Norovirus outbreak.
Finland originally had 13 players sick or in isolation. That number dropped to nine players continuing to remain in quarantine, which could mean they'll face the gold medal favorite Americans with as few as 14 players, a number likely to include 2-3 goaltenders.
Finland said they will play the United States no matter what on Saturday. It's like they'll have only 2-3 lines available for that game. Those absent could include many of Finland's top players who were among those in isolation.