New county health guidelines limit indoor gatherings to 50 people
The dramatic surge in COVID-19 infection rates have cast a dark shadow over high school sports schedules this month, with the contagious omicron variant forcing the postponement or cancellation of dozens of basketball games, soccer matches and wrestling meets across the county. The situation has affected virtually every high school in the area in the last two weeks.
On Monday, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase issued a 30-day health order limiting all indoor events to 50 people, with outside events capped at 100, effective Jan. 12.
The ordinance will have a devastating impact on attendance at high school basketball and wrestling events in particular, forcing schools to come up with a viable solution.
On Jan. 12, North Bay League school athletic directors met to assess the current situation and consider possible contingency plans moving forward.
“Our plan is to allow players, coaches, auxiliary staff and one parent per senior player (at indoor sporting events),” West County High School (WCHS) Co-Director of Athletics Joe Ellwood reported. “That will put us right around the 50-person limit.”
School officials also discussed how to manage the backlog of game postponements.
“There have been no (major) scheduling changes, but we did discuss the plan to adhere to the current health order, and encourage social distancing at outside events,” Ellwood said. “Teams that can’t play due to COVID issues will reschedule when possible.”
Among the solutions adopted by league officials on Wednesday was the cancellation of the NBL boy’s and girl’s basketball tournaments that were to start at the conclusion of the regular season on Feb. 8. This will allow for an extra week of league play to make up postponed games. Teams will also have an extra day to reschedule games following a decision by the California Interscholastic Federation which recently repealed a state bylaw allowing high school games to be played on Sundays.
It remains to be seen if all basketball, soccer and wrestling teams will be able to reschedule all postponed dates before the start of the North Coast Section playoffs next month.
Wrestling has been particularly hit hard for NBL teams this month, as athletes and coaches navigate a sport that has participants in constant close contact. The NBL boys and girls wrestling championship tournaments are scheduled for Feb. 11 and 12.
“In the past 2-3 weeks we’ve had to cancel some practices and ramp up our rapid and PCR testing, with instances where either an athlete tested positive or there was a potential exposure of one of our team members,” WCHS wrestling coach Ryan Berger said, noting the postponement of a scheduled match with Piner on Jan. 11. “We are supposed to attend a large tournament in Livermore this Saturday and coaches are currently weighing the risks in making the decision to compete or not.”
Cloverdale High School, one of two Sonoma County schools in the North Central 1 League, has also seen a rash of cancellations from NCL1 teams from Lake County and Santa Rosa in recent days. Parents of Cloverdale High School teams are circulating a petition this week, protesting the limit on indoor spectators at games. The petition has already garnered over 2,500 signatures.
