No To Football, Yes To Others: Montco Guidance On HS Fall Sports

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Most high school fall sports have the official support of Montgomery County health officials, with the notable exception of football, according to updated recommendations issued this week. The county-specific guidance falls in the middle between the PIAA's official decision to proceed with a fall high school season for all sports, and Gov. Wolf's recommendation that no sports be held in the state until 2021.

The final decision to participate remains with each individual school district.

Sports with low or moderate contact, including soccer, cross country, track and field, golf, tennis, swimming, baseball, lacrosse, and field hockey have the support of the county. Sports with high contact risk, like football, basketball, wrestling, water polo, and others, do not.

>>PIAA Goes Against Wolf, Votes Yes On 2020 Fall HS Sports Season

The county recommends that the sports which fall into the "moderate" contact category specifically — soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse — be held only between a couple of partner schools and teams in the local area, which is essentially what Major League Baseball has done with their regional-based schedule.

In making their determination, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said they looked deep into the results of contact tracing, and what they'd seen in youth sports in the county over the summer. Youth leagues have been in action since the county moved into the green phase on June 26.

"We looked very, very carefully into that data," she said Wednesday. "What we have found a a lot of exposure to virus, however, the only documented cases of transmission in any of these teams happened on teams where there was also a social event around a game."

Therefore, Arkoosh added, it cannot be determined with certainty that the transmission happened on field or during the event. The official guidance states that teams should not participate in any social gatherings together, outside of practice and competition.

The county's guidance states that higher contact sports could "cautiously participate" in competition once the county's positivity rate on tests was below one percent, and the average daily cases over week's time was below 10.

The county's positivity rate is currently 3.1, and the average daily cases over a week is 41. Both are good, encouraging numbers, health officials say, but still off the recommended threshold for high contact sports.

Six Montgomery County high schools have already made the decision to cancel all fall sports, including Cheltenham, Norristown, Pottstown, and the Archdiocese's Lansdale Catholic, Bishop McDevitt, and La Salle College. Many others are still reviewing options.

>>6 Montgomery County High Schools Have Now Canceled Fall Sports

All indoor events should have 25 or fewer people, including fans, coaches, players, and staff. All outdoor events should have 250 or less.

The county based on their guidance on recommendations put together for school sports by the CHOP Policy Lab.