The National Collegiate Athletic Association issued its third set of return-to-sport guidelines on Thursday. The press release includes the following.
The guidelines are designed to inform schools in responding appropriately based on their specific circumstances and in the best interest of returning college athletes’ health and well-being. Many sports require close, personal contact and require specially crafted guidelines. Among the recommendations put forth:
– Daily self-health checks.
– The appropriate use of face coverings and social distancing during training, competition and outside of athletics.
– Testing strategies for all athletics activities, including pre-season, regular season and post-season.
– Testing and results within 72 hours of competition in high contact risk sports.
“Any recommendation on a pathway toward a safe return to sport will depend on the national trajectory of COVID-19 spread,” said Brian Hainline, NCAA chief medical officer. “The idea of sport resocialization is predicated on a scenario of reduced or flattened infection rates.”
“When we made the extremely difficult decision to cancel last spring’s championships it was because there was simply no way to conduct them safely,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert. “This document lays out the advice of health care professionals as to how to resume college sports if we can achieve an environment where COVID-19 rates are manageable. Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic.”
Additionally, the association also posted a caveat following up on its announcement on Twitter.
Although testing and contact tracing infrastructure have expanded considerably, the variations in approach to reopening America for business and recreation have correlated with a considerable spike in cases in recent weeks. pic.twitter.com/clwHtsrOgh
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) July 16, 2020
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