LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County parents and high schoolers who are hoping to soon see a return to youth sporting activities are planning a Friday event that’s part of a statewide effort to bring attention to the issue.
The “Let Them Play CA” event will take place at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, in Courthouse Museum Park at N. Main and Third streets in downtown Lakeport.
Students and parents of all Lake County schools are welcomed.
Let Them Play CA is a group of parents, coaches and youth advocates organizing rallies in dozens of communities across the state this week.
Organizers are inviting community members to come and participate through a peaceful rally with signs and banners as they support their local youth sports teams.
They will encourage mask wearing and distancing, and will have extra masks on hand, said Gerard Fowler, a Lake County organizer.
He said the whole movement formed about two weeks ago, with the group now having more than 31,000 Facebook members. From there, an idea for a rally started with one member and is now being endorsed by the group.
“We literally started planning Monday,” he said Wednesday night.
Fowler said he’s planning on having speakers at the rally, including young people hoping to get back on the courts and the fields.
His son, Hayden, a wrestler and football player, is one of those who misses competition and is expected to share his thoughts at the Friday rally.
A roomful of young people had shown up to a Lakeport Unified School Board meeting in November to ask for the board to open in a hybrid, in-person schooling model earlier than January so students could return to classrooms and sports.
By the end of that month, however, Lake County’s COVID-19 caseload had caused the state to place it in the purple tier, the highest on the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which led to greater restrictions, including preventing schools still in distance learning form opening for in-person instruction.
Through the pandemic so far, it’s been shown that COVID-19 affects children and teens differently than adults, which is one reason why there is a push to be able to reopen schools and sports.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, “While fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, children can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick from COVID-19, and can spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to others.” Like adults, asymptomatic children, can still spread the virus, the agency noted.
Demographic data published by Lake County Public Health on Tuesday showed that of the more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases reported in the county to date, the smallest number of cases – 6 percent – have been in the age 15 to 19 bracket, while 9 percent have been in children age birth to 14, the group with the fourth-lowest number of cases.
As of Tuesday, based on guidelines through the state and the California Interscholastic Federation, for the widespread or purple tier, the school sports that are allowed include cross country, golf, skiing and snowboarding, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field.
Lake County would have to drop down two levels to the orange or moderate tier in order to have sports including football, soccer and volleyball.
The state’s full guidance on youth sports is here.
The CDC also has provided in-depth guidance for youth sports here.
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