All outdoor sports are returning to SLO County – high school, youth and adult
Outdoor youth and adult sports may resume in San Luis Obispo County starting Friday — with some modifications, according to a Wednesday news release from the county Public Health Department.
The coronavirus-related guidelines apply to youth and adult sports, including school, community programs, private clubs and leagues. That’s good news for high school and college teams.
“We’re not talking about big events with multiple teams,” Dr. Penny Borenstein, San Luis Obispo county public health officer, said at a Wednesday news briefing. “And we’re not talking about indoor sports at this point.”
According to the release, the return of sports is possible because San Luis Obispo County’s COVID-19 case rate dropped below 14 cases per 100,000 people per day — the state’s threshold for allowing athletics to return.
San Luis Obispo County is currently seeing 9.4 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people per day.
“Youth sports are important to our children’s physical and mental health, and our public health approach has worked to balance those benefits against COVID-19 risks,” Dr. Tomás Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in the release. “With case rates and hospitalizations declining across California, we are allowing outdoor competition to resume, with modifications and steps to reduce risk, in counties where case rates are lower.”
Players participating in the highest risk sports — such as football, rugby and water polo — must be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis with test results made available within 24 hours of play.
In those sports, players are “likely to be unmasked, with close, face-to-face contact over a long period of time,” the news release noted.”
Borenstein said parents of youth athletes must provide “informed consent” before they’re allowed to play.
The updated guidance includes requirements that must be observed by all sports, including the “use of face coverings by observers and coaches, distancing between non-household members, limitations on spectators (and) limitations on tournaments.”
It also includes requirements that must be followed when teams from counties in the orange and red tiers of coronavirus restrictions under California’s Blueprint for a Safe Economy are playing in counties in more restrictive tiers.
Outdoor moderate-contact sports — such as baseball, cheerleading, volleyball, gymnastics and badminton — can be played without the testing requirement, but require informed consent, according to health officials.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 4:40 PM.
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