Community rallies around Sanderson High football player hospitalized with COVID
A Sanderson High School football player is hospitalized in intensive care following a COVID-19 outbreak that struck several other members of the team.
The player has been hospitalized since Aug. 29 after contracting COVID and developing complications that led to multiple surgeries and being placed on a ventilator, according to online updates from the family that have since been made private. The News & Observer is not naming the student, but the community at the Raleigh high school is rallying around the player for Friday’s home football opener.
The Sanderson case comes as health officials warn about the dangers of COVID-19 clusters from school athletic teams. The Wake County school system, where Sanderson is located, is weighing whether to require student-athletes to get the COVID vaccine and to undergo regular COVID testing.
According to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Health and Human Services, there have been at least 42 athletics-related clusters in North Carolina public and private schools between July 1 and Sept. 2. Athletics teams accounted for 45% of all clusters in middle and high schools during that time period.
“We need everyone, including our student athletes and their coaches, to increase layers of prevention to fight this more contagious Delta variant: Don’t wait to vaccinate and urge others to do the same,” Dr. Betsey Tilson, the state health director, said in a news release Wednesday.
“Tested, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are the best tool for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Student athletes who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine after a close contact with someone with COVID-19.”
Sanderson football cluster
Wake says it’s had three clusters at athletic teams this school year, including one involving the football team at Sanderson. At least 10 cases are related to the Sanderson cluster. It led to at least one game being postponed.
The hospitalized Sanderson player was diagnosed with a rare sinus infection complication after contracting COVID, his family said in an online update. He was removed from a ventilator this week and the family is hoping to move him out of the pediatric intensive care unit, the update said.
At last week’s Sanderson football game, his teammates brought out the player’s jersey for the coin toss. Following the victory that night over Triton High School, his jersey was lifted high for the team huddle.
Gretta Dula, Sanderson’s principal, and Jeremy Buck, the head football coach, referred questions Thursday to a district spokesman.
“School employees cannot comment regarding a student’s medical condition due to privacy laws,” Matt Dees, a district spokesman, said Thursday. “However, we are aware of the community response and applaud whenever families come together to support students.”
Outdoor masking of athletes
One of the challenges facing school officials is what level of precautions to take with athletic teams.
Last week, Wake announced that it was requiring student-athletes to wear face masks when they’re outdoors unless they’re actively playing in games or practices. Masks have to be worn when they’re on the sidelines.
“The decision from last week was related to the three clusters and the hundreds of students that had to quarantine due to exposures because masks were not being worn, and the data from the ABC Science Collaborative about the percentage of secondary transmission in the spring that was caused by unmasked athletes,” Superintendent Cathy Moore told the school board this week.
The ABC Science Collaborative was formed by Duke University to help advise schools on COVID issues.
Vaccinating athletes to save lives?
The school system left the outdoor masking decision in place for athletes. But the school board said it needed more time to consider whether to require COVID testing and vaccination of student-athletes.
Dr. Danny Benjamin, co-director of the ABC Science Collaborative, told the board this week that regular COVID testing can help limit the spread of the virus across schools among higher risk populations such as student-athletes.
Benjamin also said Wake could saves lives by requiring student-athletes and school employees to get the COVID vaccine. He said it becomes “extraordinarily safe” for students to play sports once they’re vaccinated.
“We will get into a situation in this state where as a result of the decision not to vaccinate the child, as a result of the decision to allow the child to participate in sports, we will have children admitted into intensive care in this state as a result of SARS COV-2,” Benjamin said.
“We will have deaths as a result of that. What I’d like to do is for you all to avoid that.”
