Friday was confusing. The documents were sent to the media. The sites that allegedly describe the state’s entire sports policy during the coronavirus have not been updated (and so they were). The Illinois High School Association had a last-minute meeting with Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz.
Governor Pritzker addressed high school sports very briefly in his COVID-19 update.
There was good news for high school athletes. Low-risk sports will be allowed when the regions move to Tier 2. Rockford, Peoria and southern Illinois reach Tier 2 on Friday and some regions in the Chicago area could be there as early as next week.
“There are regions that are moving to lower levels of mitigation,” said Pritzker. “In these layers there are [sports] that are opening up. It’s a good start. “
Low-risk sports (bowling for boys and girls, cheering, dancing, women’s gymnastics and swimming and diving for boys and badminton) may participate in conferences and intra-regional games.
Medium-risk sports will be allowed to do full practice and high-risk sports (basketball and wrestling) will be allowed to practice contactless at Level 2. There are no IHSA medium-risk winter sports.
“This is certainly positive news for three regions in the state, but we still have a long way to go before all of our student-athletes are active again,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “High school student-athletes are suffering from a mental, physical and emotional point of view, so we hope this is the first step to make it back to normal.”
But if you look closely at one of the documents sent to the media by Pritzker’s office, it becomes very clear that the prospects for any basketball or football this school year are bleak.
Basketball and football are high-risk sports. According to the chart in Pritzker’s office released today (see below), high-risk sports will not be able to play at Level 2 or when things are moved to Level 1.
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The next reversal step after Layer 1 is called Phase 4. For regions to return to Phase 4, three things are needed:
-Test the positivity rate below 6.5% for 3 consecutive days (average of 7 days).
– Availability of hospital beds and ICU by employees above 20% for 3 consecutive days (average of 3 days).
-No sustained increase in patients with COVID in the hospital (average 7 days out of 7 out of 10 days).
Illinois moved to Phase 4 on June 26, 2020. The state remained there until Pritzker moved the entire state back to Level 3 on November 20, while COVID-19 fired.
Is it possible for the state to return to Phase 4 in March or April? Of course, things are going well now. But football and basketball were not allowed during Phase 4 in 2020. That means that Pritzker would have to change his mind about the rules of Phase 4. If we get to Phase 4 during the school year.
“Deputy Governor Ruiz was unclear today about what it would mean for high-risk sports to reach Phase 4,” said Anderson. “He indicated that there could be a potential differentiation between football and basketball because football is outdoors. The new All Sports Policy, allowing for an adjustment in game levels going from Level 2 to Level 1, makes me think that a move to Phase 4 could create another adjustment, but IDPH or the governor’s office would need to confirm this. . “
Anderson’s quote makes it clear that basketball is not going to happen this school year. Football seems to have a small chance.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request to confirm what Phase 4 would mean for high-risk sports.