When can workouts start? Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Chester schools make coronavirus plans
This week, some high schools across South Carolina began allowing athletes to work out ahead of the 2020 fall sports season -- despite the threat of coronavirus.
And many, like those in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, are set to begin next week.
In a Zoom video call last week, South Carolina High School League Commissioner Jerome Singleton clarified that school districts have the autonomy to determine if and when it’s safe for students and staff to attend events on campus.
Several local school districts already have a schedule.
Schools in the Rock Hill School District — Rock Hill, South Pointe, Northwestern, York Prep and Legion Collegiate — are permitted to begin summer workouts on June 15.
Fort Mill, Nation Ford and Catawba Ridge high schools of the Fort Mill School District are permitted to start on June 15 as well.
Chester County schools -- Chester, Lewisville and Great Falls -- are set to begin football summer workouts June 22 and the remaining fall sports June 29.
Plans for Clover High and York Comprehensive High are pending approval from their respective school district boards. Both will meet Tuesday night.
Schools in the Lancaster County School District — Lancaster, Andrew Jackson, Buford and Indian Land — also are pending school district board approval.
The first few weeks of summer workouts will have to comply with Phase 1 of the SCHSL’s return-to-sports guidelines.
Among those guidelines: Players and coaches will have to practice social distancing. Coaches will have to wear face coverings, and athletes will need to wear masks when they’re not working out. Teams can host nine athletes and one coach per “facility,” like a field or weight room or court, and must sanitize equipment after each session.
Teams must have COVID-19 symptom screenings every day prior to working out, including a temperature check. And no sport-specific equipment can be used for the first two weeks of workouts.
Singleton did not provide guidelines or a timeline for when Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the SCHSL’s plan will be initiated — or if they will be at all. That all depends on the progress of Phase 1, he said.
“I don’t think we should ever let the starting date dictate the safety of the kids,” Singleton said. “The health of the kids should take precedent of any of the dates we have in place.”
On Monday, South Carolina health officials announced that York County added 22 cases of coronavirus; Chester County added eight new cases; and Lancaster County added three new cases. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control also identified 542 new cases of COVID-19 across the state Monday, marking a new single-day high.
The opening week of the high school football season is set to begin Aug. 21.
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