Will we see high school sports in 2020? WIAA releases new information
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released some new information regarding the potential return of high school sports this year. The WIAA executive board determined that in order for a season to take place, 50 percent of schools in a WIAA region (by classification) must be eligible to participate in league games as per the COVID metrics in the Department of Health guidelines. If less than 50 percent of schools are able to compete in specific sports due to elevated cases, the sport will be forced to move back.
Pierce and Thurston counties are in the WIAA’s District 3, which is part of Region B, along with District 4, which includes much of the southwest portion of the state.
The WIAA recently updated its return-to-play guidelines, tying high school sports to COVID-19 benchmarks in individual counties — specifically, cases per 100,000 residents in each county, as well as the percentage of positive tests. The previous return-to-play guidelines were tied to phasing in the Governor’s Safe Start Plan.
For “high-risk” sports such as football and basketball to be allowed to have games, counties will need to have a 14-day case rate under 25 per 100,000 and less than five percent positivity rate. As of Nov. 4, Pierce County had a 14-day case rate of 143.8.
In July, the WIAA released a modified sports calendar for the 2020-21 school year, pushing football and other traditional fall sports to the spring. Basketball is one of the sports in Season 2, which is slated to begin in December, but with many school districts still in remote learning, a return to high school sports in December is looking increasingly unlikely.
In Tuesday’s release, the WIAA also stated that it will hold regional championships, rather than state championships, as the organization looks to limit travel between high-case counties and low-case counties.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 9:45 AM.
