Isles Day to Day: Lee and Johnston in COVID-19 Protocol

Anders Lee and Ross Johnston are in COVID-19 Protocol; the team announced on Friday morning.
Lee, the Islanders' captain, has four goals in 12 games this season. Johnston has appeared in one of the Islanders 13 games so far in 2021-22.
"We found out the news last night, so they are in protocol," Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello said. "They are feeling well, but when the test come back negative, we have to wait for the second test on the same sort of gene test, so we haven't heard yet, so as of now, they will both be in protocol."

Lee and Johnston are the third Islanders players in COVID-19 protocol as Josh Bailey was placed in COVID-19 protocol on Tuesday. Bailey is still in Florida, per Lamoriello.
The Islanders President and GM said the team will ramp up internal protocols similar to those they instituted in the bubble to keep the team and staff healthy.
"We are certainly taking every precaution we can," Lamoriello said. "We've tightened everything up, we're back to the original protocol we had in the bubble. We sent out a message out late last night to the entire team and staff in the office. Full mask everywhere and so forth, as well as everything else that goes along with it."

Lamoriello said the team will be bringing up at least one player from the Bridgeport Islanders, but is waiting until the results of team tests this morning before making a final decision on personnel. Lamoriello said the team has no intention to postpone or cancel upcoming games, as the Ottawa Senators recently had to do.
"I do not foresee that unless there is an epidemic that we're not aware of," Lamoriello said. "We practiced today as you know and everyone else is healthy. We all tested first this morning and will not have results until later this afternoon. No intention to cancel or postpone at this point and we're not looking to do that."
Lamoriello said the players in protocol are dealing with minor, cold-like symptoms and that the rest of the group is focusing on the team's home opener on Saturday against Calgary.
"This is a tremendous group of individuals as far as handling any type of adversity comes their way," Lamoriello said. "Right now there is total preparation for getting ready for tomorrow night. We had a good skate today and good meetings and we're just going along on a normal process. There is nothing we can control. Certainly everyone is concerned about their teammates. We know they are healthy... The way the tests have to be dealt with, we have to put the players in protocol and wait till the negative tests come back and that's what we're doing. All players feel well and it was honestly a surprise."