Coaches navigate COVID-19 protocol

Danbury football coach Augie Tieri held a team meeting Tuesday to make sure everyone’s paperwork was in order before the start of Thursday’s organized team activities in Connecticut.

Tieri asked for a voluntary headcount of those who had been vaccinated for COVID-19. About 90% of the players raised their hands.

“It was awesome to see,” Tieri said. “I had prefaced it by saying it’s a personal preference. I understand both sides of the argument, I’m not trying to turn this into a political debate. I respect your decision, your family’s decision.

“The only thing I’m going to tell you is if you are vaccinated and you do have exposure and you’re not symptomatic you’ll be able to continue to practice as normal. Those not vaccinated more than likely will have to go through some of

the protocols we went through last year. So, ultimately, it’s going to determine your personal situation.”

Middletown coach Sal Morello similarly polled his players and said 60-65% had been vaccinated. Combining those who had been vaccinated or had the disease and built some immunity, St. Joseph coach Joe Della Vecchia estimated his team was at 60%. With that criteria, Fairfield Ludlowe coach Mitch Ross said his was better than two-thirds.

“I told the kids obviously I can’t mandate it, but I think it is important that I share the possibilities of what can happen if they’re not vaccinated,” Morello said. “To let them know, our season, their individual season can be derailed without them having COVID.

“If they’re in class and someone has it and they’ve got to quarantine for 10 days, they may miss twothree games. Come back and somebody in their math class has it and their season is halfway done without even having it.”

Morello said he “almost” has created separate depth charts to prepare for an emergency situation with unvaccinated players.

Of the 15 football head coaches around the state contacted by Sean Patrick Bowley and me, 14 said they had been vaccinated. Kevin Frederick from Maloney said he has not.

“It’s a personal decision,” Frederick said. “I think the players should speak with their families and the families will come up with the best thing for their kids.

“Kids signed up and if they’re approved (medically), we’re going to coach them up. I haven’t been asked to get a head count. I don’t think I will, but we’ll take the precautions we need to take as outlined by our district. I think kids, not only in sports, need to go back to some normalcy. I can’t imagine them going through another year.”

Ansonia coach-AD Tom Brockett also said he isn’t asking his players. The latest vaccination count in Ansonia for the entire population is 53%. There will be teams not nearly as high as the four mentioned above.

“Obviously, the more who are vaccinated that will help — we told them the benefits — but it’s an individual family decision that I don’t get involved in,” Brockett said.

Frederick, Della Vecchia, Brockett, the words were repeated: “I don’t think it’s my place.”

CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini has sounded confident the football season will go on without major problems. Considering the emotional roller coaster of last year that ended with no football this is the one sport where emotions still are raw.

Everyone wants a season. None of the coaches contacted called for mandatory vaccinations, although there are more than a few interested folks who wish there were. Invoking a rule without FDA approval could bring challenges.

A meeting between the CIAC and DPH was scheduled for Monday, according to sources, and a mandate is not expected at this point.

“I think all the athletes should get vaccinated if they want to stay on the field,” Hillhouse coach Reggie Lytle said. “I don’t agree to force it to get the shot, that’s another whole legal aspect. But I’m just a coach and not too high on the totem pole.”

Lytle spoke to the New Haven DPH to set up a question-and-answer meeting with parents of his team and the New Haven Pop Warner.

“I’m wearing a mask,” said Lytle, who has two children under the allowable vaccination age of 12. “I’m not playing games.”

Although Marce Petroccio of Trumbull brought up HIPAA laws in not requiring kids to answer if they had been vaccinated, he had a team meeting to strongly encourage them.

“Not having football last year was sad,” Petroccio said. “It hurts kids’ recruiting. Those tentacles are long.”

Hartford Public coach Harry Bellucci had similar concerns as Petroccio. A number of coaches said general information should be able to be gathered from physicals and medical records.

Although young people were much less effected in the past year by COVID, the newer Delta variant is far more contagious and hits younger people harder. At last count, the immunization rate in Connecticut for ages 16-24 was 54%.

“You certainly want to know who is vaccinated so you’ll be able to react appropriately if something happened,” said Brian Mazzone, coach of the Stafford, Somers, East Windsor co-op.

The Madison superintendent sent out a blanket message encouraging the vaccine. New Hand coach Erik Becker said he asked AD Craig Semple if he should reiterate it to the team. He was advised to let the message stand.

“We’re not (directly) encouraging our kids to get it, but we’re masking up in the locker rooms and I’m telling why I got it.”

The reason, Becker told Bowley, Viral Keshwala, an attorney and former Hand star, had COVID-19.

“He’s now recovering, but he almost lost his life,” Becker said. “It told me this is really serious.”

In a carefully worded email, Ross also brought a strong human element to his message.

“One of our coaches’ infant son just got a bone marrow transplant,” Ross said. “I can’t require it, but I have asked my players to strongly consider getting vaccinated for their sake and the sake of our other players, our coaches and our coach’s son.”

Although coach Pat Smith intends to find out the numbers on his team Thursday, Plainfield High’s two district towns (Plainfield and Sterling) have two of the lowest overall rates in the state.

“Immunizations (for other diseases) have been required for students enrolling in schools for decades,” Smith said. “Do I put COVID in that category? Not yet but I know universities in the state have gone that mode.

“I’m also not opposed to children and their family to make the decision that, hey, we’re not going to get vaccinated. Every family has their own choice. I can tell them what the repercussions could be. Right now the Plainfield protocols is if you get vaccinated you typically will not get sent home from sports, band, school.”

Smith introduced the kind of scenario that haunts coaches … Plainfield plays Killingly, which has two kids come down with COVID and Plainfield has eight who aren’t vaccinated. The next week again Bacon Academy, those eight have to sit out even though they aren’t sick.

“We’ve got to continue to be cautious,” Tieri said. “We’re going to continue to avoid large gatherings. We’re going to treat this the same way we did in the fall when (some independent games were played). Let’s respect each other. You guys who are vaccinated, be cautious. Don’t think you’re invincible. You can still get it.”

Worse, pass it along to the unvaccinated.

When Bellucci called Tuesday, Hartford, with some of the lowest vaccination numbers in Connecticut, had just joined New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk in requiring masks in restaurants and businesses. Under current statewide rules, all unvaccinated people are required to wear masks indoors.

“I’m assuming when we come in Thursday everyone is going to have to be masked,” Bellucci said. “We have a bunch ready to hand out at the door just in case.

“There was some weightlifting over the summer and I gave them the science then. I wanted to make them aware. It’s a decision that families have to make. I have heard vaccinations around the city have picked up and a lot of them are teenagers.”

Uncomfortable on exactly how to approach the situation, Mazzone said he called his athletic director. Damian Frassinelli pointed him to the joint release by the DPH and CIAC strongly encouraging vaccinations.

“It’s kind of a difficult situation,” Mazzone said. “I asked those who are comfortable telling me, how many have gotten it. My numbers are low. The entire staff is vaccinated. We’re not going to put our season in jeopardy. The coaches aren’t going to be responsible for that. We all got it months ago and nobody has had any issues.”

The good news? Since that conversation, he said eight of his players were vaccinated.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve lost sleep over this,” Mazzone said. “I can’t believe we are here again.”