Communication key as virus still looms
Week 1 is in the books, but quarantines already impacting the season
The first week of the high school football season is over. Thankfully, the season has begun. What’s concerning, however, is how many teams were and continue to be affected by COVID-19.
In the Southeastern District, Great Bridge canceled its Saturday game against top-ranked Oscar Smith. On the Great Bridge’s Twitter timeline, it said several of the Wildcats players were quarantined. “This is an important mitigation strategy intended to ensure the safety of our students and coaching staff,” the tweet read.
In the Eastern District, the Booker T. Washington-Granby game — originally scheduled for Friday, then moved to Saturday — has been canceled due to COVID. It wasn’t said which team was put on pause, but I was told, “We need to be safe.”
The situation is much different in the Peninsula District where games have been affected at a growing rate.
My colleague, Marty O’Brien, reported that several games have been canceled and moved because of COVID-19.
The one thing that is crucial during all of this is for school districts to be transparent about what is happening.
We’re not saying to name players. We just want to know what’s happening.
Not saying anything about the matter only makes the situation worse. It makes parents, the public and the media wonder, “What else are they hiding?”
That’s why I was so happy to hear back from Richie Babb, Chesapeake Public School supervisor of public relations.
I sent him a list of questions Monday morning. And by that afternoon, he answered all of my questions to best of his ability.
One of the first questions I asked was how concerned was he that the football season just started and already a team had had to be quarantined?
“We take the safety of our players and coaching staff very seriously and are committed to taking every precaution possible to prevent the spread of COVID19,” he wrote in an email. “Quarantining those who may have been exposed to a positive case is an important mitigation measure intended to ensure a safe environment for everyone.”
If I’m a parent of a Western Branch football player, who played Great Bridge on Monday, should I be concerned for my child?
“Our health services staff worked diligently to perform contact tracing for any COVID19 positive individuals,” he said. “Therefore, we are confident that this particular situation had no bearing on the teams’ previous games, so no additional teams should be affected.”
I also asked whether Great Bridge will play this week against Hickory.
“A quarantine cycle usually lasts 14 days,” he said. “This is likely to affect the team’s ability to play this week.”
I also asked if he was concerned whether this football season could be completed.
Babb, of course, can’t predict the future. But he again answered the question as best he could.
“We know our students are anxious to get back to sports and we are doing all we can to support their ability to play and we have played several games without incident,” he said. “However, safety comes first. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and make adjustments as needed moving forward.”
Hearing this news brought relief as well as comfort.
I put myself in the situation of if I had a son still playing football. What would my concerns be? What would I want answered?
I know if I heard nothing, I would be hot and scared.
But with Babb being transparent, it took away — not my concern — but at least my fears.
Parents just want to know what’s going on.
I spoke to several parents about the situation.
All of them agreed that they were glad to see football resume.
“I appreciate that they are giving the students the opportunity to play and participate,” said one parent.
They just had concerns. They wanted to make sure their questions are answered and that they are kept in the loop.
Just a simple email or voice message saying, “We’re monitoring the situation” can bring so much comfort in this unseen situation.
“The last thing I want to see this lead to is seeing the season being shut down,” one parent said. “I appreciate that they’re giving the kids a chance to play.”
All they want is communication.
I’m reminded of what Phoebus coach Jeremy Blunt said prior to the season.
“We won’t measure success for this season in the physical things we do,” he said. “We’ll measure it in how we execute (COVID) protocol, not just all of the things we do together, but how we execute that outside of football. Ultimately, that will determine how successful we can be as a team.”