Updated recommendation for schools in St. Louis County allows some sports and games to be played by youngsters and middle schoolers, however, restrictions remain for high-contact high school games due to risks of contracting COVID-19.
In addition to virtual learning, “I am announcing new Health Department recommendations for school districts to all middle school students to return to in-person learning. Also based on data, we are going to announce some relaxation of restrictions on youth sports,” St. Louis County Executive, Dr. Sam Page said on Sept. 23.
“The COVID-19 rates among children are going down in a general sense.”
Page said the decision was data-driven and is posted at stlcorona.com.
“In the most recent two weeks, we see a sharp reduction in the rate of COVID-19 in the 15-to-19 age group. The rate of new cases in this age group is still higher, but it’s headed in the right direction,” Page said. “A couple of weeks ago, it was was 20%, but more recently, in the most recent data, we see a positivity rate in the 15-to-19-year-old age group of 7.4%.”
Page says this means more adolescents are getting tested and more of those test results are coming back negative. He is hoping that trend will continue.
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health says sports activity is a factor in a number of coronavirus cases in the County among high schoolers. Spring Schmidt, acting co-director of the health department said the County recently documented five clusters of COVID-19 transmission among student athletes that are directly linked to sports-related activities.
“We don’t give the locations of each cluster, but they were all high school athletes, whose only association with each other was either a practice or they were travelling to an out of town game,”
Schmidt said.
“It is a mix of public and private schools as well and some club teams. There is also a mix of some activities. There was football and soccer, and lacrosse and hockey.”
In addition to those cases, the St. Louis County DPH identified more than 20 other student-athletes who have contracted COVID-19 in recent weeks, however, in those instances, it’s not clear whether transmission occurred at an athletic event or a social activity.
“We also have a wide variety of student athletes who tested positive, but the athletes also engaged in other activities with each other,” she said. “They may have gone to a party or to a social event, or they ended up in school together, or they also played a game, so we can’t pinpoint where they had the transmission.
Low- and moderate-contact sports and games are now allowed for younger children to middle schoolers, beginning September 28.
“Effective Monday, we are changing our guidelines to allow games and high frequency contact sports for children under 14 and in middle school with some restrictions,” Page said. “That means sports such as football, basketball, ice hockey and wrestling, competitive games will be allowed for middle school and kids 14 and under.”
A limited number of parent spectators will be allowed for outdoor games and social distancing still applies.
“We will also allow all students, including high school students of any age, to play competitive games in moderate contact sports. This includes sports such as soccer, cheerleading, crew, rowing, dance team, floor hockey, field hockey, lacrosse and racquetball,” Page said. “For all outdoor youth sports, we will allow two parent spectators per athlete to attend games, with an overall limit of 50.”
The purpose is to prevent large crowds who can spread COVID-19.
High-contact sports and games remain off limits for high schoolers. “Although we are not permitting games in high contact sports for high school students yet, such as football or basketball, we are actively working on a path forward that might include competitive games for those sports sometime later this fall,” Page said.
A continued drop in COVID-19 positivity rates and testing numbers among this age group will indicate whether high contact sports can safely be played by high schoolers.
“Because their case numbers are still higher, they deserve special protections, as do the teachers and staff who participate in their education,” Page said. “We expect new recommendations on that in coming weeks.”
The health department has broadened its advisory group to include public and private school athletic directors, medical personnel, youth and sport club officials, sports enthusiasts and parents.
The concern is that high-contact sporting games pose a risk of transmitting the coronavirus. Players are within inches of other players, breathing, spitting and yelling without masks. Physical exertion entails heavy breathing, which is known to be a vector of disease spread. And related activities such as team huddles, shared meals, team bus rides, frequent carpooling and crowds of spectators, further compound transmission risk.
“It’s critical to understand that every single person who contracts COVID-19 has the potential to infect multiple networks of people around them. Young people with COVID-19 may spread it to older relatives, friends and those in the community who are more apt to develop serious symptoms – or die – from the disease,” the County stated. “Research indicates that adolescents spread the virus just as efficiently as adults.” It has identified at least 600 students and staff at schools in St. Louis County who have been quarantined because of potential exposures, all while no games were being played in high-contact sports.
Through contact tracing, Schmidt said, “Especially from our young people, I’m learning that they’re just pretty active in a lot of different kinds of gatherings and experiences, and some of those are high risk activities. We do caution that and try to offer protections. It’s difficult to make sure that our young people have enough information, as well as the resources and tools they need to protect themselves and be really careful with each other, and how much contact they have.
The social distancing and keeping masks on when around other people also pose challenges
“It’s hard to make sure our young folks understand the risk and have the need to protect themselves. Many youth just developmentally credit the importance that they feel about these social connections, and the social connections feel like it’s the most important thing to you in the whole world,” Schmidt said.
Protests near Page’s Creve Coeur home and near the County government center in Clayton have been taking place in recent weeks, primarily by white parents who were pushing for their children to participate in high school fall sports. Some expressing concerns about their child missing out on scholarship opportunities.
Find youth sports guidelines by the Missouri High School Sports Activities Association at https://www.mshsaa.org and find St. Louis County’s youth sports guidelines at stlcorona.com.