There are many fans, players, administrators and media members alike who are awaiting a return to sports. It has now been 56 days (at time of publishing) since sports were a part of our every day lives. As we anxiously wait and search frantically on the internet for any semblance of hope, the NCAA has put together a three-phase plan for sports to return to the world of college athletics.
A “gating period” must be satisfied and is defined as follows:
A downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period and a downward trajectory of COVID-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period.
A downward trajectory of documented cases of COVID-19 within a 14-day period or a downward trajectory of positive tests as a percentage of total tests within a 14-day period.
Hospitals can treat all patients without crisis care and there is a robust testing program in place for at-risk health care workers, including emerging antibody testing.
The precursor to the gating period states that “there must not be directives at the national level that preclude resocialization.” Essentially there cannot be any executive orders preventing sports from taking place. This was part of their core principles of resocialization of collegiate sport. Also stated that local and state authorities must have a plan in place for the resocialization.
For any sports to commence, a college or university much have a plan in place for the students first.
Social distancing and protective equipment.
Temperature checks.
Testing and isolating.
Sanitation.
Use and disinfection of common and high-traffic areas.
School business travel.
Monitoring of the workforce for indicative symptoms and preventing symptomatic people from physically return to work until cleared by a medical provider.
Workforce contact tracing after an employee’s positive test for COVID-19.
As for athletes themselves, the NCAA has suggested the following guidelines:
All student-athletes, athletics health care providers, coaches and athletics personnel should practice good hygiene.
All student-athletes, athletics health care providers, coaches and athletics personnel should stay home if they feel sick.
Guidance noted above for university employees should be in place within athletics.
The guidelines continue on to state that there must be adequate personal protective equipment available for athletics health care providers and sanitizers to manage infection control in all athletics share spaces. Given that many different athletic programs share the same spaces at times, this is essential for everyone involved.
There must be the ability to assess immunity to COVID-19 at a regional and local level. This could include immunity at the college campus, plus a more focused assessment of herd immunity for athletics teams.
There must be access to reliable, rapid diagnostic testing on any individual who is suspected of having COVID-19 symptoms. With so many worries about available testing, this could be more problematic than some of the other issues.
There must be in place a local surveillance system so that newly identified cases can be identified promptly and isolated, and their close contacts must be managed appropriately.
There must be clearly identified and transparent risk analyses in place. Such risk analyses consider issues such as economics, education, restoration of society, and medical risk of sport participation, including COVID-19 infection and possible death.
Given the core principles listed here, the health and safety of students and athletes alike is the biggest concern. As it should be. Next we focus on Phase One of the plan.