Nocetti discusses new COVID-19 guidelines
California Interscholastic Federation executive director Ron Nocetti received the new state COVID-19 youth sports guidelines. A day later, he met for a couple of hours with the high school sports governing body’s 10 section commissioners.
After the meeting Tuesday — less than 24 hours after the longawaited California Department of Public Health guidelines were released — the state’s top high school sports executive spent a few minutes with the Bay Area News Group.
Nocetti noted that his office advocated for high school sports to be played in the red and purple tiers — which the new guidelines will not allow for high- contact sports such as football and
basketball — and there is no urgency to discuss rearranging the calendar until it’s clear that no sports will start until at least Jan. 25.
In its release, the California Department of Public Health said it would reassess the situation by Jan. 4.
Here is what Nocetti said:
Q
How did your meeting with the section commissioners go?
A“We met with the sections so that we could thoroughly go through the updated guidance. Now I think the sections are looking at that information and putting together information to share with their member schools. They’ll start to have conversations with their leadership about what this means for their sections moving forward.”
Q
Did you discuss changing the calendar?
A
“Not at this time. There were questions about things we could look at in the future. But everyone is going to proceed pretty cautiously because it says clearly in the guidance that they’re going to reassess the start date on Jan. 4. People are a little hesitant to do things until we see if that Jan. 25 date is going to hold before they start looking at things like that. You may want to follow up with (the sections).
I can’t speak for them on that. I can just tell you what my thoughts are on being really cautious about taking that action before we see the reassessment.”
Q
What was your general reaction when the guidelines were released Monday night?
A
“Obviously, any time we get to see that there is actual guidance that was a positive. Our student-athletes and coaches and schools have been waiting for a long time for updated guidance. For some sports, it was a very positive thing to see that. For other sports, depending on where they are on the tier, I can completely understand the continued frustration.
“I will tell you that we’ve asked, during these conversations, for sports to be able to return in either the red
or purple tier. Obviously, by what was released, we got some of that. Not all of that. But I think we will continue to clearly advocate our position with the California De
partment of Public Health and the governor’s office and to continue to work with them to try and bring more sports back in those tiers.”
QRed and purple tiers for all sports?
A
“Our goal initially was to bring back all of our sports in the red and the purple tier. We look at the red tier. That’s fewer than seven cases per 100,000. That’s information that we also vetted through our own sports medicine advisory committee and they supported us to bring that forward. The California Department of Public Health has to look at all factors — not just high school sports, but all sports. We understand that. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to advocate our position.”