Maryland has postponed high school sports in both fall and winter seasons for the 2020-2021 school year – that includes girls and boys swimming & diving.
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) made the announcement Monday. Sports during both the fall and winter seasons will be postponed, with officials still working on a two-semester plan that will be “focused on student engagement options in the first semester and modified competition seasons for all sports during the second semester.”
Swimming & diving is a winter sport in Maryland. Last year, winter sports could begin practice as of November 15, with meets starting as early as December 5. The state meets typically happen in late February.
The previous MPSSAA plan had fall and winter sports remaining as scheduled. Fall sports were set to begin in just under two weeks, starting on August 12, according to The Baltimore Sun. The state will now postpone all fall and winter sports, though specific start dates are not yet available. Organizations that govern private schools in the area have also postponed fall practices to at least September 1, according to the Sun.
The state of Maryland has had about 91,144 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3,389 deaths, according to the state’s website. After peaking in the month of May (with often more than 1,000 new COVID cases in a day), the coronavirus pandemic slowed down significantly in the month of June before surging back in July. As of Monday, the state reports 870 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Many states have begun postponing or adjusting high school sports amid the pandemic, though many are still suggesting sports will proceed as planned, like Maryland was up until this week. You can follow all 50 states and their most updated plans in our state-by-state index here.
This decision is unacceptable. What statistics are these decision-makers looking at specific to the COVID deaths & COVID hospitalizations in the under 19 demo’s that the rest of us do not have access to. Let’s turn the lives of those least impacted by this virus upside down. Unacceptable.
Kids die at lower rates; it doesn’t mean they’re not at risk. And it’s hard to have practices and meets without coaches and officials. This is sad but not that surprising. Public schools in Maryland typically don’t have their own pools; meets usually run one after another at large swim facilities, meaning perhaps a half-dozen teams could be using a locker room in any one morning/afternoon. I’m sure those are factors that were considered.
Far lower rates, I can only speak with certainty about stats in my county, Franklin County in Columbus OH, home of a big school called OSU, that is going to be allowed to return to campus in a couple of weeks while HS and elementary kids are being told to stay home and no sports. The COVID deaths in Franklin County OH from Jan 1st thru July 31st is zero. Sports like tennis, golf, possibly cross country, even swimming can practice social distancing. It just seems to me like the kids are being impacted the greatest during these challenging times while us adults are going to work, going to the gym, grocery shopping, etc.
Regarding swim meets, of course… Read more »
Jake- Franklin county death count is 514 as of yesterday. Not sure where you come up with zero.
I presume he’s referring to under 18 deaths.
Thank you for clarifying Braden. < 19 yrs. of age in Franklin County, 1,775 cases , 44 hospitalized , 0 deaths.
Not necessarily saying this is a right or wrong decision at this time – though generally I prefer these kinds of decisions wait until they must be made – but it’s not merely about the health the the student swimmers. The goal, I presume, is to reduce spread, and you can’t say that teenagers do not spread it to others.
On the whole, MD Governor Larry Hogan has been pretty good handling the pandemic in his state (I’m not a resident, but admire his leadership here from afar). I guess I’ll defer judgment here until I see what “postpone” means.
death isn’t the only lasting effect of COVID on a person’s health….
Please think beyond the first step. The kids may be fine, but after swim practice they will go home to their parents.