GSHA executive says about 300 athletes test positive for COVID-19

Georgia high schools have reported about 300 positive COVID-19 tests among athletes and athletic staff since summer conditioning began June 8, Georgia High School Association Executive Director Robin Hines said Tuesday.

Of the GHSA’s 469 member schools, 90 have reported positive cases since Hines’ June 25 request for the information. Reporting is not mandatory.

Hines said those numbers were not surprising and didn’t make him more or less optimistic about fall sports. He said the 300 represents a small percentage of the more than 400,000 high school students who participate in GHSA sports, although not all athletes are in summer workouts, which are voluntary.

“All we’re trying to do with this information is look for trends,” Hines said. “It’s a way to provide data points to our sports-medicine advisory committee, which I meet with every week. It represents a small, small portion of our athletes that are involved in training, and it’s anecdotal and incomplete, but it’s important for us to look at it.”

The positive tests include athletes in all sports, although football has the largest summer participation.

Mandatory practices may begin July 27 for football and Aug. 1 for other fall sports, which are volleyball, cross-country, cheerleading and fast-pitch softball. Hines said the next step would be to allow scrimmages between schools. That’s normally permissible in summer but against current GHSA pandemic guidelines.