Fort Dorchester High School was removed from South Carolina’s high school state swim meet after a positive COVID-19 test.
WCSC5 reports that a member of Fort Dorchester’s team tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. That forced the team out of the high school state championship meet, which will take place on Saturday and on Tuesday of next week.
So far, Fort Dorchester has been the only team pulled from the meet. But the WCSC5 report says that the COVID-positive swimmer competed in a meet last Saturday along with other teams. So far, no other swimmers on the Fort Dorchester team have tested positive.
South Carolina is hosting its high school state swimming events this weekend, the first high school state meets in the country this school year. The meets have already been adjusted quite a bit due to the coronavirus pandemic. The season’s start date was delayed several weeks, and the state meets have been broken down further than usual.
South Carolina’s SCHSL typically runs its state meets for girls and boys simultaneously, with the three school-size divisions (3A, 4A, and 5A) split between two different days.
This year, the meet is essentially split into six separate meets. All three divisions of girls teams will compete on Saturday, with 3A at 10 AM, 4A at 2 PM, and 5A at 6 PM. The boys will follow the same schedule next Monday, which will limit the number of athletes on deck at the same time.
As much as there is an argument over whether this was the right decision or not, I think the team and that swimmer probably feel sad over having the entire team pulled out of the meet. Unfortunately, as these decisions are made, this might not be the only team with this fate, as the team raced a meet recently.
No evidence of transmission through the water. Swimmers and coaches wearing masks up until they get in the water. When out of the water, the swimmers were always at least 6 feet apart. If not, they were reminded by coaches and immediately separated. None of these swimmers should be considered close contacts.
No opposing teams have been kicked out. They held a region championship just weekend. Plenty of “exposure.”
The whole team should be tested. Those with negative tests swim, those with positive tests don’t. Simple solution
If you think the kids are keeping 6 feet apart and wear masks when out of the water… and not breathing in each other’s faces while in it… I’ve got some great land in South Florida to sell you. I’m the biggest scaredy cat I know and our team has the tightest rules I know of, and I wouldn’t put $0.10 on our kids or any set of kids doing this right. They have to be constantly reminded and they take every opportunity to touch/hug/breathe inside each other’s bubbles.
I have seen first hand these Covid policies in action. There is not social distancing. These kids do not keep their masks on at practice. Nor when they are doing dryland. These policies have become a bunch of smoke.amd mirrors unfortunately. We do have to live our lives. However, it needs to be done safely! Not irresponsibly! We will get past this Covid lifestyle. I am not sure why so many are ok with things looking ok in theory and on paper. When in reality alot of teams are just checking Temps and having business as usual.
Common sense would dictate that if the remaining swimmers could have presented a negative test result and still be allowed to swim. But we don’t live in a time of common sense.
This is the perennial problem of lack of systematic, reliable testing and contact tracing. Not sure if the other team members have access to quick testing on site, for example.
Last year the 4A schools competed on Friday night, with the 3A and 5A competing on Saturday. The boys swim on Monday this year.
We need to live our lives around the virus and not run and hide and curl up in the fetal position from the mere mention of it.
Guerra, hiswimcoach? Comments, please.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say predict that hiswimcoach is gonna call this a massive mistake and it was a missed opportunity to develop herd immunity. SAD!
So much criticism directed at Hiswimcoach on these threads. Seems to me like one of the major themes in hiswimcoach’s comments is advocacy to allow the sport of swimming to continue with appropriate safety protocols in place. Anyone who visits this site could surely appreciate that message. Good luck to all of the swimmers at this state meet and also to all of the organizers and officials. Best wishes to the swimmer who tested positive. Keep swimming, SwimSwam readers and commenters.
What a shame. The rest of the team shouldn’t have been pulled out of the meet. Unfortunately, this team made the mistake of not working to achieve herd immunity a couple months ago. It wouldn’t have been an issue now.