Some BCIAA schools have relaxed mask policies for spectators, players
Rates of COVID infection and hospitalizations have risen dramatically in recent weeks with the spread of the Omicron variant across Pennsylvania and the nation.
Professional leagues, such as the NFL and NBA, are postponing games and scrambling to keep players on the field or on the court.
The NHL has paused its season.
The college bowl season is being disrupted.
Yet in Berks County several school districts have gone in the opposite direction, relaxing protocols and requirements since the start of the winter high schol sports season.
Conrad Weiser, Daniel Boone, Exeter and Gov. Mifflin now have made masking optional for spectactors, joining Oley Valley, Tulpehocken and Twin Valley, which opened the season with that policy in place.
The same four schools have also relaxed masking requirements on players not actively involved in a contest; players on the bench are no longer required to wear a mask. Oley Valley, Tulpehocken and Twin Valley opened the season with that policy.
The same policies are in place for coaches at those seven schools: Masks are optional. That wasn’t the case at Weiser, Boone, Exeter or Mifflin two weeks ago.
Reading High remains the only school that requires all players to wear masks, whether on the court or not; Reading is also the only Berks school district to require officials to wear a protective mask.
Five BCIAA schools are not requiring visiting teams to follow their school policy on masking: Brandywine Heights, Conrad Weiser, Oley Valley, Tulpehocken and Twin Valley.
Three Berks teams lost games scheduled for tonight. Reading High’s boys basketball game against Lower Merion was postponed due to a COVID situation at Lower Merion. Fleetwood’s boys basketball team saw its game postponed because COVID issues at Catasauqua. The Wilson girls basketball team was notified Downingtown East needed to postpone.
Last season, the first played since the outbreak of the coronavirus, all players, coaches and spectators were required to wear protective masks, though enforcement and participation varied greatly.
Many players wore the masks as “chinstraps,” below the nose or mouth, and administrators at some schools did not police the policy. Masks do not effectively control the spread of germs unless both the nose and mouth are covered.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages anyone age 2 or older to wear a mask when in indoor public places.
COVID numbers are on the rise in Berks County, and across the nation.