NC high school athletes must wear masks during practices, games
High school athletes and coaches must immediately begin wearing face coverings while participating in indoor skill development sessions and volleyball players must do so for games and practices beginning Monday, according to new guidance approved by the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker emailed school officials statewide Thursday with the new guidelines, which were developed after consultation with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and the NCHSAA’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
“Collectively we must do everything we can to mitigate against the continuing spread of COVID-19, and it is our belief that the above steps will assist those efforts,” Tucker said in the email.
The situation with the coronavirus pandemic has the virus impacting the state’s residents in larger numbers than have been previously seen since the state’s first case was detected in Wake County on March 3.
On Wednesday, the state recorded a single-day record 3,119 new cases. Thursday’s announcement that 1,279 people were hospitalized by the virus set a single-day record in that metric for the second consecutive day.
While DHHS officials aim to get the percent of positive tests down to 5 percent or lower, that figure was 8% on Monday and 7.9% on Tuesday — the two most recent days that information is available to state health officials.
During a news conference on Thursday, DHHS secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said state health officials don’t look at all athletic activities the same when requiring face coverings and distancing.
Tennis, for example, isn’t as much of a concern because participants are distanced and usually outdoors.
High-risk categories, she said, include football, basketball and wrestling.
“You are close together with someone all the time,” Cohen said.
Volleyball falls in the medium category along with soccer.
“Volleyball is played indoors,” Cohen said. “We already recommend that the athletes wear a face covering if it can be tolerated. So I support wearing face coverings when at all possible, particularly for something like volleyball where you are indoors. For even these medium-risk athletic activities, our department does recommend wearing face coverings while in those activities.”
The new face covering guidelines pertain to athletes, coaches and support staff.
Because the virus is spreading so rapidly again in the state, Gov. Roy Cooper issued a new executive order on Tuesday that limited indoor gatherings to 10 people. But athletic events are exempted from that order, allowing for 25 spectators in addition to the players, coaches and support staff for NCHSAA volleyball games. For outdoor venues, the spectator limit is 100.
That said, Tucker’s email to the schools on Thursday said the organization is aware some volleyball games next week may be impacted because teams are quarantining because of the pandemic.
Tucker also wrote Thursday that anyone who cites a medical condition as a reason they shouldn’t wear a face covering during competition “will need medical documentation from a physician licensed to practice medicine, nurse practitioner or physician assistant.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 5:24 PM.