Marysville suspends practice
Officials call it precautionary following possible exposure of COVID-19
INSIDE:
Marysville High football coach Jeff Freeman called the decision to suspend football activity precautionary in light of not having enough information regarding the contact tracing of a member of his staff
Prep football schedules ...
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being in the same location as someone who tested positive for coronavirus.
Freeman said the timeline began on Saturday, June 20 when he got a call that a member of his staff possibly came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The location in question was an area dental office where the football staffer had an appointment on June 15.
Freeman said calls were made to the local hotline and dental office to try and get further details as to exactly when the staffer could have come into contact with the
positive case.
It turns out the positive case had an appointment on June 8. Since then every employee of the dental office had tested negative for coronavirus, Freeman said.
At the request of Freeman, the football staff member still got a test on Tuesday, June 23 and will likely get results back on Friday, Freeman said.
Without revealing the identity of the football staffer, Freeman said the person is someone who had contact with players and coaches under county health and safety protocol.
But there were still too many “what if ” scenarios for Freeman and Marysville school administrators to keep practice going in the meantime.
“We shut it down before anything could happen,” Freeman said. “We’re looking out for the best interest of our athletes.
I’m happy with the choice we made until we can get more information.”
Freeman said practice
is set to resume July 1 with business as usual through the month of
July. Practices are run twice a week, Freeman said, under phase one of the National Federation of State High School Association guidelines. NFHS recommends daily screenings of everyone; limits of 10 per group, including the coach; a locker room ban; proper social distancing among workout pods; hand washing of at least 20 seconds; and an encouraged vigilance for each athlete to wash gear immediately following the session.
Freeman also has installed a water station where athletes and coaches can sip water six feet apart. Equipment is also being disinfected under guidelines laid out in part by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Freeman said varsity and freshman teams will continue to practice Monday and Wednesday from 5-7 p.m.; junior varsity Tuesday and Thursday from 4-6:30 p.m.
“July 1 we’ll pick up right where we left off,” Freeman said.
In collaboration with each section, the CIF will revisit the statewide situation involving coronavirus on July 20 to determine if fall sports can take place as scheduled.
There are also multiple contingency plans on the table, according to a CIF news release released last week.
Marysville fall schedule
Athletic Director David
Chiono confirmed Wednesday each of the fall sports are continuing some form of offseason activity under strict county health and safety protocol.
Non fall sportshavebeen pushedbackbecause they have not yet been given clearance by the district, Chiono said.