The latest rules and recommendations, released Friday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, come amid an ongoing surge in coronavirus transmission fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant.
Weekly COVID-19 tests are required for those involved in youth sports considered high-risk or moderate-risk. High-risk sports include basketball, boxing, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, soccer, water polo and wrestling. Moderate risk sports include baseball, cheerleading, dance, dodgeball, field hockey, kickball, softball, tennis (doubles) and volleyball. Testing must be performed within 48 hours of competition and results must be available before the competition begins.
Players, coaches and fans are also required to wear face coverings when indoors.
“All participants, regardless of vaccination status, (are required) to bring and wear masks,” the new guidance states. “Youth sports participants must wear a face mask even while engaging in physical activity in any indoor setting.”
The guidance provides an exception for water sports such as swimming, water polo, or diving, in which athletes may remove their face masks while they are in the water. Face masks must be worn when participants are not in the water.
Teams are also encouraged to adjust practices to diminish “sustained person-to-person contact” and focus instead on “skill-building activities,” and to consider limiting the number of participants who visit the restroom or locker room at any given time.
Athletes in some sports in L.A. County were briefly required to conduct weekly testing during the surge in COVID-19 last winter and spring, but those requirements were lifted in March when the case rate dropped.
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Tom says
Two days before the game. What if they catch covid at the testing site on their way out, or in a classroom the next day in school. I guess the following weeks team they play will be safer. Either cancel another year of sports, or let the kids play and have fun. these so call regulations really don’t fix crap. So what if one Covid case is found does the team get benched and forfeit, or just the player? Better have a lot of oxygen bottles on stand by, because were going to have a lot of kids passing out for lack of oxygen running up and down a basketball court wearing mask. Or just play all basketball games outside. Poor kids
Tim Scott says
I think technically that if they “catch covid at the testing site on their way out” that it would take more than 48 hours for them to build up a sufficient viral load to be contagious.
Matt says
Some people just complain without be educated on the matter Tim. Maybe looking foolish after that rant will get him to become educated.
M.G. says
Thank you for your comment, Tom. This is tough on these kids.