CHAMPAIGN – On Friday, the Illinois High School Association released guidelines for allowing student athletes to practice and play. It comes as the Illinois Department of Public Health announced the number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew to 145,750 including 7,005 deaths.
Here are a few of the Phase 4 Return To Play Guidelines:
- Schools must maintain of a daily record and take the temperatures of athletes before every practice.
- Any person with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test should not practice or play. They can only return after clearance to do so from a physician.
- Gatherings of 50 people are allowed indoors and outdoors but they must be kept at a distance.
- Locker rooms must maintain a capacity to keep people 6 feet away from each other.
- Appropriate clothing/shoes should be worn to minimize sweat from transmitting onto equipment/surfaces in the weight room.
- Students are encouraged to shower and wash their workout clothing immediately upon returning to home.
- Schools must wipe down and sanitize hard surfaces used by athletes, including chairs, furniture in meeting rooms, locker rooms, weight room equipment, bathrooms, athletic training room tables, etc. before the athletes arrive to use those facilities.
- Students should not share water bottles.
- No spitting or blowing of the nose allowed without a tissue.
- No handshakes, high fives, fist bumps, hugs, etc. can happen before or after a game.
- Coaches and volunteers must wear masks.
- Schools should cap seating at games at 20% of capacity. Families should allow 6 feet of distance between each other.
Click here to read the complete guidelines from IHSA and IDPH.