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MHSAA provides timelines for return to sports
By: Mike Stiles - Saturday, May 30, 2020


(EAST LANSING) - The Michigan High School Athletic Association on Friday submitted to its member schools a series of updated timelines and recommendations to guide the return of sports, which have been suspended since mid-March to alleviate the potential spread of COVID-19. The state’s current “Safer-at-Home” order runs through Friday, June 12. There can be no use of any school facilities (indoor and outdoor) and there can be no organized on-site athletic activity, including conditioning or competition, until the current stay-at-home order expires or is lifted by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. When the “Safer-at-Home” order expires or is lifted, the return-to-activity recommendations may be implemented locally by school district leadership, provided the district declares its facilities open to students and staff and the 2019-20 school year has ended for that district (based on its last originally-scheduled school day). The “MHSAA/NFHS Guidance for Re-Opening School Sports” is based primarily on direction provided by the MHSAA and National Federation of State High School Associations’ (NFHS) Sports Medicine Advisory Committees, in addition to reopening plans provided by the Michigan and federal governments and recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Concepts from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee also were consulted. The MHSAA/NFHS plan recommends a three-step process to returning to full athletic participation, and for each step outlines actions to be taken in five major areas: pre-workout/contest screening of athletes and coaches for sickness, limitations of the number of participants who may be involved in a gathering, proper cleaning for facilities, the use of equipment during activity and best practices for keeping participants safely hydrated. The plan also places sports into categories based on risk for transmitting the virus (low/moderate/high), with adjusted return-to-activity steps based on that level of risk. MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl says the MHSAA and its Representative Council believe restarting school sports is essential to the physical and mental well-being of students, and the guidelines outlined for schools provide the ‘How’ for schools to return to athletics when they’ve received the go-ahead from state and county health officials. At the present time, the only activity allowed continues to be individual, outdoor recreational activity including walking, hiking, running, etc. (as announced in Executive Order 2020-96). The return-to-activity guidelines are aimed to provide direction for schools as they continue to limit potential exposure to respiratory droplets, the primary avenue for transferring COVID-19. Specifically, the MHSAA/NFHS plan addresses social distancing, use of cloth and other face coverings, event scheduling and transportation, and the possibility that schools may have to break from or completely discontinue activity including competition during the fall or winter because of recurrent outbreaks of the coronavirus.

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