Thread by @megster67

To: Montgomery County MD Council @Andrew_Friedson @hansriemer @SidneyKatz4MC @willjawando @CmHucker @EvanMGlass @albornoz_gabe @nancy_navarro @RicePolitics @Marc_Elrich re: HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL DECISION 1/

I am the parent of a sophomore JV football player at Quince Orchard HS @QOAthletics. I write re: the MoCo Board of Health Regulations issued on March 12, 2021, which limit play in our community to “low- and medium-risk sports.” As per the County's website, football is a... 2/

...“high-risk” sport for Covid transmission, so the new order effectively prohibits football play in the County. Please, recategorize football as a “moderate-risk” sport so that players across MOCO and the MCPS school district may play a short “fall” season, as planned. 3/

The county’s designation of football as “high-risk” is based a June 2020 MD Sports Commission report, which categorized it as such based on guidance from the National Federation of High School Associations, published in May 2020. The NFHSA has since changed its guidelines. 4/

According to their **updated** statement of risk, the NFHS has expressly repudiated its own prior guidance. According to new guidance, it is inappropriate to categorize football as high-risk. 5/

Similarly, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued updated guidance for returning to sports. It warns against indoor contact sports like hockey & wrestling, but makes no mention of football. Instead, they note that “most transmission associated with outdoor sports...6/

...has been related to off-field activities.” Rather, outdoor sports are deemed less risky than indoor sports - many of which are deemed “medium-risk” by the county.
The @MontgomeryCo County council must take immediate action so that the county’s youth are not... 7/

...unfairly and adversely affected by reliance on obsolete guidelines that have been repudiated by those who first issued them in the first place. Football is an outdoor sport, and is therefore less risky than allowed indoor sports.... 8/

Football is also a contact sport, but no more so than soccer or field hockey. Football equipment is no longer shared, guarding against potential risks associated w/shared equipment... 9/

And, like all youth athletes in MoCo, football players practice and play fully masked, offering a level of protection to players, coaches, and community members consistent with a safe return to play. 10/

We hope we can count on your support to reconsider your decision and #LetThemPlay. It would mean the world to our players and families! /end

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