Outdoor youth sports will soon be allowed to resume in California counties that meet a threshold for coronavirus cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
Outdoor sports like football and baseball will be allowed to resume as early as next Friday, Newsom said during a briefing in Alameda County.
While indoor sports competitions are still prohibited, outdoor youth sports will be allowed in counties that have case rates of fewer than 14 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. Contra Costa County is currently at 15.7 new cases per 100,000 residents.
As of Friday, 27 counties across the state met that threshold, including Alameda, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties.
“The fact that kids are not even in school and don’t even have the ability to organize around sports, it’s impacting them in profound and significant and, in many cases, deleterious ways,” Newsom said.
Let Them Play CA, a group of youth sports coaches and student athletes across the state that have advocated for sports to resume, lauded Newsom and state legislators for lifting the ban on outdoor sports.
“From the moment the governor called us to say he would work with us to help get sports back for kids, it has been a methodical march to get to this wonderful place,” Let Them Play CA said in a joint statement with the Golden State High School Football Coaches Community.
“It has not been easy; there were many bumps along the way, but good people kept working together to create a positive outcome for our most ‘essential business’- our kids.”
Finally! And it only took the threat of a recall to get this guy to do something that 48 other states have been allowing for months now. As of today CCC is at 14.4 (adjusted) per 100,000, which is down from 15.3 yesterday. All data is found here: https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/
Yep. Amazing the clarity of thought that results from an impending recall election.
Most kids are still not in school in CCC and sports are not resuming
Newsom still needs to be recalled so he can’t run for prez
Never forget French Laundry!
The devil is in the details. My fear is this is only posturing by Newsom. Allows him to say “I brought back sports,” but there are burdensome COVID testing requirements of coaches and athletes for some sports that will make it burdensome if not impossible for some schools to pull off a season.
Great news! But, who’s sanitizing the locker rooms? Before a game, after halftime and after the game? Will students be spaced appropriately to dress, shower, etc. Will spectators be allowed in the stands? Snack shacks allowed?
I think these sports should come back.
But the case for bringing kids back into school in-person is stronger than the case for sports. More school-related outbreaks have happened via athletics than via the classroom. These are outdoor sports, yes, but they still involve immediate proximity of kids to each other, breathing hard into each other’s faces, all that. If football can happen, then masked in-person schooling can happen too.
@Ledlf “More school-related outbreaks have happened via athletics than via the classroom.”
I’d like to see the report that says that.
Wait, what? I thought football was only safe if we were in the “red” tier (less than 7 cases per 100k)? Are you telling me for the past year these numbers were just fabricated and not based on science? Btw, what’s the “science” for allowing tackle football and not In person class room education? Isn’t a real education a basic tenant of American life?
You nailed it Former Californian. From the beginning these lock down measures never followed the scientific data.