Coronavirus testing is expected to resume for LA County’s high school teams in some sports, including soccer – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health did updates its guidelines for youth sport on Friday, suggesting that high school sports in the moderate and high risk categories require weekly testing.

Soccer and girls’ volleyball are high school sports in the categories that would be immediately affected since they have already started their fall season.

The updated guidelines also state that masks must be worn at all times for those involved in or participating in indoor sports, which include girls’ volleyball.

High school football teams have not had to take weekly testing since the spring season began in March when Los Angeles County fell below the required adjusted case rate, which allowed teams to compete without mandatory testing.

The new guidelines released on Friday suggest that this will change.

“With community transmission rates high in Los Angeles County, routine testing is required for all athletes and employees participating in moderate or high-risk sports, regardless of vaccination status,” the LACDPH guidelines state. “The required test frequency is at least once a week.”

High school soccer falls into the risk category. Girls ‘volleyball and girls’ tennis doubles are in the middle category this fall.

It appears that this mandate will only affect high school teams in Los Angeles County.

“We know,” said CIF South Section Deputy Commissioner Thom Simmons. “These are not the statutes or guidelines of the CIF Southern Section. These are not guidelines from the California Department of Health. These are the LA County’s public health guidelines that apply to LA County’s schools. We have schools from eight different counties within the CIF Southern Section footprint. Local health authorities can be more restrictive than the CDPH. Our schools have already proven that they can conduct weekly tests. “

The majority of high school coaches and administrators contacted by the Southern California News Group on Sunday said they had just become aware of Friday’s updates and did not have enough information to comment on the situation .

CIF State Commissioner Ron Nocetti also said Sunday he didn’t have enough information to comment on what this means for thousands of high school athletes and LA County’s schools.

The updated guidelines state that testing must be done 48 hours before competitions.

“In addition, the tests must be carried out within 48 hours of each competition between the teams and the results must be available before the start of the competition or the athlete or employee must not be present at the competition,” says the updated guidelines.

One of the big questions is whether the teams are ready to begin weekly testing right away, and how the requirement might affect games to be played that week.

The high school football season began last weekend without a mandate for the teams to test for the coronavirus, despite a request from some school districts.