A day after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and health officials announced that 10 counties would be able to relax restrictions on certain business and social activities, state leaders signaled another area where COVID-19 limitations will be softened to allow more activities: scholastic sports.
Under new guidance, student-athletes in K-12 schools and at smaller colleges will be able to join their counterparts at larger universities where practices and games have been going on for months.
鈥淭his has been a difficult year for Oregon鈥檚 youth athletes and, as our COVID-19 numbers have dropped, I have been committed to working with our health experts to reevaluate our protocols for sports,鈥� Brown said in a written statement announcing the change.
But Brown cautioned that, as with other rule changes, the allowance for more athletic activity will 鈥減roceed with caution, to ensure that teams are following health and safety precautions to protect our athletes, their families, and their communities.鈥�
For 11 counties in 鈥渕oderate risk鈥� or 鈥渓ower risk鈥� of COVID-19, outdoor contact sports 鈥渃an resume following health and safety guidance to be issued by the Oregon Health Authority.鈥�
For the other 25 counties in Oregon, including the more populated Willamette Valley, the rules call for 鈥渉igh risk鈥� and 鈥渆xtreme risk鈥� counties to 鈥渙pt-in鈥� to outdoor sports.
In order to run games, schools and sports organizations in those counties must follow certain protocols for on-site testing. They also will have to collect information for contact tracing. And they must offer waivers 鈥渋dentifying health and safety risks,鈥� and must commit to isolation and quarantine in the event of COVID-19 exposure. Indoor sports are still prohibited under the new guidance 鈥渄ue to the risk of COVID-19 transmission.鈥�
In addition, Brown is calling for schools in the higher risk counties to take steps toward reopening classrooms to in-person instruction. The announcement says school districts 鈥渕ust have at least limited in-person instruction occurring, with the goal of achieving hybrid or full in-person instruction for students this school year.鈥�
A spokesperson for Gov. Brown clarified the limited in-person requirement to OPB in an email, saying that simply offering limited instruction at some schools in a particular district is not sufficient to allow outdoor high school sports across that district.
鈥淸T]he expectation is that individual schools in Extreme and High Risk counties that opt in for outdoor contact sports and develop plans to meet the health and safety protocols outlined in our press release will also implement limited in-person instruction at that school, and will continue to work towards a hybrid or full return to in-person instruction,鈥� said the governor鈥檚 communications director Charles Boyle.
The requirement that schools offer some level of in-person instruction and move toward reopening classrooms in order to run outdoor sports is clearly an effort by the governor to press schools to resume in-person instruction, which some weeks ago she said should start by Feb. 15. Brown acknowledged that sports fields might host games even as some schools remain largely closed, a disconnect she鈥檚 calling on parents to help resolve.
鈥淭o all the parents of student athletes and coaches who have called and emailed me in the last year asking for school sports to resume, I am challenging you now to devote your energy to making sure in-person academics can resume for your kids, too,鈥� Brown said.
Parents of student-athletes are applauding Wednesday鈥檚 announcement allowing more student-athletes in Oregon to play contact sports.
鈥淲e are very happy to see the Governor following the science and removing significant barriers to children returning to sports,鈥� said Rene Gonzalez, one of the co-founders of the parent group ED300, in an email to OPB.
However, Gonzalez also blamed the governor for 11 months of canceled sports and noted that Brown鈥檚 announcement delegates decisions on school athletics to local districts.
Gonzalez鈥� message finds Brown鈥檚 solicitation of parent involvement 鈥渟urprising.鈥�
鈥淭housands of parents have been calling and writing to the Governor, OHA, ODE and their districts for months on the harm caused by closed schools and disruption of co-curricular activities,鈥� Gonzalez wrote.
At the same time that the governor rolled out new guidelines for school and youth sports, the Oregon Health Authority is allowing more athletic activity at small colleges. OHA is calling for colleges in NCAA鈥檚 Division II and Division III, along with NAIA schools, to 鈥渟ubmit health and safety plans to resume college athletics.鈥� The expectations for those plans are consistent with what Division I universities have been doing, and they resemble what state officials are expecting of school and youth sports: testing, contact tracing plans, as well as isolation and quarantine procedures in case of positive cases.
Copyright 2021 Oregon Public Broadcasting
