Why all IHSA sports could return sooner than expected originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel in regards to Illinois high school sports? It appears so.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Friday that all state regions that reach Phase 4 of COVID-19 mitigations can play all sports, including high risk ones such as football, basketball and wrestling.
The caveat is that Illinois regions could not host competitions in those high risk sports until reaching Phase 4—and regions would need to maintain that status for competitions to continue.
“The most significant update today involves high-risk sports in regions that have improved from Tier 1 to Phase 4," IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a statement. "Schools within a Phase 4 region can now conduct intra-conference and intra-region contests in high-risk sports. Moderate-risk sports competing outdoors in Phase 4 also received expanded scheduling opportunities, including tournaments and out-of-state contests."
The IHSA stated that all low-risk winter sports must conduct practices on seven days prior to their first contest. Basketball teams must conduct 12 days of practice prior to their first contest. Fall, spring, and summer sports can begin contact days this upcoming Monday (Jan. 25) based on the allowances of that school's specific EMS Region and local school district approval.
Regarding spectators for games: In Phase 4 regions, a maximum of 50 spectators is allowed. For Tier 1 regions 25 are allowed. Tier 2 regions do not allow spectators. These numbers do not include players, coaches, officials and other necessary game personnel. Spectators are in addition to them.
Host schools may choose to be more restrictive in their spectator policies.
For an Illinois region to move to Phase 4, it must record three consecutive days of sub-6.5% COVID-19 positivity and maintain plus-20% ICU-bed availability, including sustained decreases in hospitalizations.
The updated information, which can be found on the IDPH web site, also included protocol about participants needing to wear masks during competition:
“Wearing face coverings or masks with coverage of nose and mouth, including during competition, reduces the transmission of disease and, in accordance with the communicable disease code, all participants who can medically tolerate a face covering must wear a face covering when unable to maintain at least a 6-foot social distance.”
The focus now shifts to this upcoming Wednesday, where the IHSA will meet regarding a schedule framework for athletic competitions.
Gov. Pritzker placed the 2020-21 winter sports season “on hold” back on Oct. 27. Basketball, and other winter sports such as wrestling and hockey, were to start Nov. 16. In September, Pritzker reiterated his stance from July regarding holding off the football season until COVID-19 cases subsided.
