COVID issues at Peach County lead to canceling Friday's game with Central, and then ...?
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
No team – pretty much – wanted to miss any game during the regular season because of an issue with the COVID-19 virus, from any symptoms to a positive test to a spreader situation.
But many teams had a chance to make up a canceled game, either that week or down the line.
Now, though, playoffs are on the horizon here in the final week of the regular season, and Peach County is on the clock.
The school announced Wednesday morning a suspension of football activities because of a player’s positive test, which thus canceled Friday’s game against Central. The school said it will provide more information after other players and those associated with the team are tested. It offered no other timeline other than for Friday night’s game. Many schools and systems in such releases have given a timeline of how long team activities are suspended.
“I’m hoping we’re gonna no something no later than Saturday,” head coach Chad Campbell said late Wednesday afternoon. “We’ll know in the coming days who’s going to be affected the next week or not.”
The school announcement indicated one player had tested positive.
“We’re waiting for some results,” he said. “Our district decided to shut us down until we find out who is going to be affected.”
Peach County has a one-game lead over Crisp County and Central in Region 2-3A play, so a Charger upset would’ve led to a three-way tie, and a region confab.
The GHSA does not govern nor have any power regarding health guidelines, which are determined by each school and school district, as well as the state Department of Health and Department of Education.
For example, counties throughout Central Georgia have different standards regarding how many fans to let into a stadium, what percentage of capacity. Some appear to have almost no such standards.
The GHSA, however, does govern what happens in the playoffs, in all sports. Softball and volleyball teams – including Tattnall in softball and Peach County in volleyball – had to forfeit playoff games because of positive tests.
As per GHSA rules this year, regular-season games canceled because of COVID concerns go down as a no-contest, not a forfeit. Some regions have tweaked such standards, and all have had to come up with a plan if some teams play a different number of region games than others.
Regions have the freedom to determine their playoff teams. There is no GHSA tiebreaker or playoff seed format, although that will change somewhat next year.
Peach County is to host a first-round playoff game next week, and on paper, that would appear to be in doubt. In the playoffs, any team unable to compete because of COVID issues will forfeit. There are no makeups.
But Campbell doesn’t believe the Trojans’ situation will reach that level.
“No, no, no,” he said. “We’re gonna be able to do that. We just don’t know yet who’s going to be affected.”
The GHSA does assume more responsibility in football regarding how many people can fit into a stadium, for the semifinals and finals, but it’s up to school and local authorities through the earlier rounds.
There is no official scorecard of teams that have had positive tests, or gone through quarantines, etc. And many programs have kept such situations quiet. At least one Central Georgia county has forbid its coaches from discussing anything COVID-related with the media, and others no doubt have strongly encouraged as little comment – or clarification – as possible.
The complexities of nearly everything involving COVID-19 and schools – as well as sports – remain strong, and have undergone updates as warranted.
As per sources, there have been recent positive tests that may affect the football team’s situation. Campbell declined to say how many players might be affected or if there was any chance of staffers being affected.
As per the Georgia Department of Health and Department of Education’s guidelines updated earlier this month:
“DPH recommends a time-based return to school or childcare strategy that is determined based on a person’s health status. Decisions about “return to school” or “return to childcare” for persons with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should be made in the context of local circumstances (community transmission, resource needs, etc.).
“Symptomatic persons with confirmed COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 can return to school or childcare after:
* At least 10 days* have passed since symptoms first appeared and
* At least 24 hours have passed since last fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and
* Symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) have improved.
Asymptomatic persons with confirmed COVID-19 can return to school or childcare after:
* At least 10 days* have passed since the positive laboratory test and the person remains asymptomatic
* Note, asymptomatic persons who test positive and later develop symptoms should follow the guidance for symptomatic persons above.
Asymptomatic persons who have a known exposure to a person with COVID-19 can return to school or childcare after:
• They have completed all requirements in the DPH guidance for persons exposed to COVID-19 found at https://dph.georgia.gov/contact
• Of note, if this person is tested for COVID-19 during the 14-day quarantine period, a negative test result would not change or decrease the time a person is quarantined.
A symptomatic person can return to interaction with others 10 days after symptoms first appears and after at least 24 hours with no fever and improved symptoms. Also, as per the DPH, an asymptomatic person who tests positive but continues to have no symptoms can return to interaction with others 10 days after the test.
Close contacts with an infected person must self-quarantine for 14 days after the last contact.
Thus, there is no one-diagnosis-fits-all scenario with positive tests and exposures. Many teams have put activities on hold as a precaution.