Citing data that suggests that “the majority of sports-related spread of COVID-19 appears to occur from social contact, not during sports participation,” the National Federation of State High School Associations has revised its original guidance.
The national governing body on high school athletics issued a statement Tuesday that shifts the emphasis from classifying sports in tiers of risk — high, medium or low — to evaluating potential transmission that largely relies on community infection rates.
The NFHS’ Sports Medicine Advisory Committee said it no longer believes the tier model is the most accurate because as “knowledge of the virus that causes COVID-19 has evolved, we have increasingly recognized that transmission depends upon multiple factors that cannot be easily accounted for by simply dividing sports into three distinct categories of risk,” it said in a release.
Recommendations to continue social distancing, mask wearing, sanitation and staying home when at all ill have not changed, but data has led the committee to suggest that state organizations consider five factors for safe play based on the shared experiences of states currently participating in prep sports.
The committee said that “proven cases of direct COVID-19 transmission during athletics remain relatively low,” and community infection rates are better indicators.
Also determined based on data is that those in non-contact sports show lower rates of COVID-19 infection than those in contact sports, that the infection rate is higher among those playing indoor sports as opposed to outdoor sports and that the use of masks for indoor sports “results in similar COVID-19 transmission rates to those seen in outdoor sports.”
“We applaud the great work of the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee throughout the past year to provide state associations and high schools with well-considered information during the pandemic,” Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director, said in a statement.
“We appreciate the committee’s most recent attempts to reassess how student-athletes can participate in sports moving forward. While we have to be concerned about transmission of the virus first and foremost, we also must consider the mental health of students who have been unable to play sports thus far this year.”
Colorado delayed the start of practices on Season B sports — boys and girls basketball, boys and girls wrestling, girls swimming, ice hockey, skiing and competitive spirit — until Jan. 18, while competition just began last week.
According to the MaxPreps website, Colorado is one of 42 states that currently has basketball underway. Two states (Hawaii and Nevada) have canceled winter sports altogether, while Michigan, West Virginia, California, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon have all staggered future start dates for the sport.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
