New health guidelines make path to football easier

The California Department of Public Health updated its guidelines for youth and high school sports Friday which sparked optimism among high school football players, coaches and fans. Under the new guidelines, high school football games may begin as early as March 11 if certain health conditions are met and safety protocols are in place. The main adjustment was that outdoor, higher-contact sports like football, water polo, soccer and lacrosse are moving from the orange tier to the less restrictive red tier for play to be allowed. In order for football to be played, the counties must have an adjusted rate equal to or less than 14 cases per 100,000 people. Orange County is already close to that goal with 16 cases per 100,000 as of Friday. Los Angeles County is at 17.6 and San Bernardino is at 19. “We believe it’s backed by science,” <strong>Gov. Gavin Newsom</strong> said of the revisions in a press briefing. “But more important than anything else, we are confident that if we can resume, it will only help enliven the capacity of these kids to feel more engaged, feel more alive.” CIF State Commissioner <strong>Rob Nocetti</strong> said that the state assured CIF that they would provide testing resources free of charge to every school to provide equal access to sports for all the students. Possible starting dates for football for depend on when each county reaches the necessary threshold of Coronavirus cases per person in the county. If the county reaches the threshold by February 23, each team must have three days of conditioning and can start fully padded practices on February 26. The first games would be able to be played on March 11 and it would allow for a six game season ending on April 17. If the county reaches the threshold by March 2, each team must have three days of conditioning and can start fully padded practices on March 5. The first games would be able to be played on March 18 and it would allow for a five game season ending on April 17. If the county reaches the threshold by March 9, each team must have three days of conditioning and can start fully padded practices on March 12. The first games would be able to be played on March 25 it would allow for a four game season ending on April 17. Here is some reaction from players, coaches and fans in California: Mike Maceranka, Head Coach, Laguna Hills https://twitter.com/CoachMaceranka/status/1362822320503463938?s=20 Mater Dei Football, Santa Ana https://twitter.com/MDFootball/status/1362902521912586240?s=20 [player_tooltip player_id="25051" first="Kyron" last="Ware-Hudson"], Mater Dei https://twitter.com/kyron___hudson/status/1362884738172690432?s=20 St. Augustine coaching staff, San Diego https://twitter.com/SASaintsFB/status/1357121490857021440?s=20 San Clemente football https://twitter.com/Tritonfootball/status/1362828967682609153?s=20 Stephen Barbee, Head Coach, Long Beach Poly https://twitter.com/CoachSBarbee/status/1362853890719313920?s=20 Pete Karavedas, Head Coach, Sunny Hills https://twitter.com/CoachKaravedas/status/1362847695665197057?s=20 Mike Calahan, Head Coach, Aliso Niguel https://twitter.com/coachcalahan/status/1362830067638800385?s=20 Tesoro Football https://twitter.com/TesoroFootball/status/1362824195378356227?s=20 &nbsp; &nbsp;