Gov. DeSantis, Rubio debate football restart
US senator outlines plan for high school teams to have games
Florida’s governor is urging for high school sports to return amid the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the state’s U.S. senators has created a detailed plan for high school football teams to follow. However, who would pay for it, whether it would work and whether the elected officials have a role in making those calls is unclear.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio spoke to each other Wednesday night about how to safely play high school sports, and Rubio sent DeSantis a sixpage letter outlining his plan to conduct a high school football season safely, according to Rubio’s Press Secretary Nick Iacovella.
“Returning to high school athletics has generally been treated as a mere afterthought in the national debate over returning to school this fall,” Rubio wrote. “As it has always been, the safety and wellbeing of our student-athletes must be the top priority. This means protecting them from the dangers posed by COVID-19, but also protecting them from the significant socio-developmental harm of not being allowed to return to play.”
Rubio, who played high school football at South Miami High, tailored his plan for high school football but wrote that it could be adjusted for other sports. His plan recommends facemasks or plastic face covers for all athletes, coaches and staff, social distancing before, during and after games, and extensive testing and screening for people involved in athletics.
“These protocols do not guarantee that zero infections will occur among student-athletes, coaches or game officials,” wrote Rubio, whose son plays high school football. “However, if adhered to, this protocol represents the best realistic practices available to us right now to significantly mitigate against the risk of infection and spread during competition.”
Rubio’s letter was also sent to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida High School Athletic Association Executive Director George Tomyn and the FHSAA Board of Directors. The FSHAA sets rules and schedules for high school sports in Florida, but it is not a governmental organization.
The FHSAA Board of Directors voted on July 23 to postpone the start of fall sports practices until Aug. 24, which would push the season back until at least Sept. 7. The FHSAA’s advisory committees have been considering multiple plans for how to restart the season. The Football Advisory Committee recommended a plan to start practices on Aug. 24 and start the season on Sept. 11, while a majority of the Athletic Directors Advisory Committee picked a proposal delaying the start of the season until December as their top choice on Wednesday.
The FHSAA Board of Directors has the final say on how the sports seasons will proceed. The board meets again on Aug. 14.
DeSantis spoke of the upcoming fall sports season at an education roundtable event at the University of North Florida on Thursday.
“As we look to what’s coming up on this school year, I think it’s important, I think it’s critical, that we have boys and girls sports available for our students,” DeSantis said. “Again, if a parent chooses to not have their kids play in any of these endeavors, that is totally fine and that’s a parental choice. But I know a lot of parents really want to have the opportunity to allow their sons and daughters to compete and play.”
The first section of Rubio’s plan calls for players, coaches and officials to be screened for coronavirus symptoms and risk factors before any in-person athletic activities.
The second section deals with testing. Rubio wrote that broad PCR or antigen testing within 72 hours of games would be ideal, but the cost would be a problem. He wrote that antibody testing, while not recommended as the primary way to diagnose COVID-19, could be an option.
The problem, according to microbiologist Dr. Dean Hart, is that antibody tests might not help curb the spread of COVID-19, since someone who has coronavirus and is contagious might test negative if they were recently infected. There are also concerns about the accuracy of antibody tests.
“Antibody testing is not diagnostic relative to saving elderly lives, ultimately that’s what important — saving lives,” said Hart, who spent 25 years as an Associate Research Scientist and Assistant Professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “If you have antibodies, you’re thrilled, you can be a plasma donor, but it doesn’t really tell you back when you had it that you didn’t communicate it to 50 billion people.”
Rubio’s plan calls for any team with a diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 case to inform their previous opponent if they played within the past five days.
In his letter, Rubio lays out how an athlete could return to play after being diagnosed with asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19. The athlete would have to be at least 10 days past the initial positive test, if asymptomatic, or 10 days past their last symptoms and at least 72 hours since their last fever without the use of fever-reducing medicines.
Athletes would also need to be cleared to return after an evaluation or routine pre-participation exam, including a symptom screen, undergo an electrocardiogram if indicated by evaluating physician and undergo any other follow-up workup as indicated by physician.
Rubio also included extensive guidelines for social distancing during football games, including extending the team box to the 10-yard lines, adding time to the play clock and eliminating offensive and defensive huddles.
Rubio’s proposal recommends facial coverings for players and coaches. During play, athletes would wear plastic face shields that are either integrated into the facemask or attached to the helmet. Everyone on the sideline, including coaches, officials, staff and line-togain crew members, should wear a facial covering. All medical, training or other team staff should use medical quality FDA-approved PPE masking while treating players.
“Give everybody a mask,” Hart recommended. “Mask them up.”
Postgame handshakes would be disallowed in Rubio’s plan, and teams would designate one coach or staff member to enforce social distancing and masking. Officials would be allowed to penalize teams that do not comply with distancing or masking policies.
Hart said allowing high school students to play sports is a balancing act between allowing children to learn, socialize and improve their mental health while also trying to limit the risk for people who may catch COVID-19 if it spreads among teams.
“You know socialization is required, but there’s a bioethical conundrum,” Hart said. “People will die quicker and sooner the more social you become . ... On the one hand, you’ve got to worry, bioethically, about the children. They’ve got to grow up big and strong and intelligent and go into business healthy, mentally and physically. We’ve got to do that for sure. The elderly that are 75 years old may have another beautiful 30 years to live, and we absolutely need the elderly to not die early because we didn’t contain COVID the best we can.”
The state government and school districts provide most of the funds for high schools, and since Rubio is a U.S. senator, his plan does not address where the money for more equipment or tests would come from. DeSantis also did not address funding or talk publicly about Rubio’s plan on Thursday.
Cardinal Gibbons athletic director Mike Morrill said many of Rubio’s proposed guidelines would be doable, though acquiring enough face shields and providing for testing whole teams and staffs could prove difficult. Morrill said he supported the majority of the Athletic Directors Advisory Committee, who ranked a December start date for the football season as their top choice on Wednesday.
“The Senator‘s proposals include many of the same protocols already released by the (Florida Athletics Coaches Association) and other groups with the exception of testing and the mandatory use of full face shields,” Morrill said in an email. “I truly don’t know how schools would be responsible for testing of upwards of 60 student-athletes and the face shields also might be a concern. All the other proposals are doable.
“I appreciate Senator Rubio’s love of football and I couldn’t agree more with his feelings on student-athletes needing to compete again but on a personal note, I believe the vote that the AD Advisory group took yesterday should be implemented by the FHSAA Board of Directors when they meet next week.”