Brookline Orders A Pause On Winter School Athletics

BROOKLINE, MA — A recent "sustained rise" in positive COVID-19 cases within the town, including an outbreak on the high school hockey team has prompted the district to put all winter sports on pause.

"While we do not want to see the cancellation of games and practices for our students' athletics programs, but there have been cases of COVID-19 directly linked to sports, and we need to take all the steps we can to protect everyone in town, including youths who may be at risk when participating in sports," Brookline Health Commissioner Swanni Jett said. "We will reevaluate again in a few weeks and hopefully sports will be able to resume once again.

As of Monday, there were 1,417 people who tested positive for the coronavirus in town, up 47 from three days before. Of the total number of people who have tested positive, 81 people have died.

According to state health data, the town has been designated yellow, or at moderate risk for the spread of the coronavirus. For the two-week period ending Jan. 7, Brookline had an average daily incidence rate of 25.4 per 100,000 people. And of the 8,806 people tested during that period, 281 had tested positive for the virus bringing the percent positivity up to 3 percent up from 2 percent during the previous period.

The pause includes all practices, games, scrimmages and tournaments and applies to Public Schools of Brookline and private schools in town.

"No private school, recreational club, private club are exempt," Jett said

Read this, too: Brookline Schools Eye State COVID-19 Pool Testing

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