Fall sports came to an official close with the state football championship games Friday.
The official start of winter sports — games and events are scheduled to begin Dec. 3 — could be in jeopardy because of concerns with the rising numbers in COVID-19 cases around the state.
Lancaster County leaders have already taken action, calling for a three-week pause in high school and youth sporting events and practices beginning Nov. 13, three days before the start of practices for basketball, wresting and swimming and diving.
The remainder of the state has pushed forward.
NSAA executive director Jay Bellar said he plans to meet with Dr. Matthew Blomstedt, the Nebraska Commissioner of Education, on Wednesday about where things stand.
Meanwhile, a doctor with University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha says it's "just too dangerous" to be playing winter sports in the current climate of the pandemic.
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"There are safer ways to do any of these activities and obviously those precautions should be put in place, but when we're seeing the transmission in the community as widespread and as prevalent as it is currently, and as it likely is to continue for the next weeks, unless very aggressive actions are taken, I think it's just too risky," Dr. Mark Rupp told the Journal Star.
"I think it's absolutely appropriate to hit the pause button. Hit the pause button, put a stop to things, get the transmission under control and then bring things back slowly, judicially."
Similar concerns led Lancaster County to sideline high school sports through at least Dec. 6.
Scott Holmes, manager for the Environmental Public Health Division with the Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department, said the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 cases in the community has more than doubled over the past three weeks.
"Not surprisingly, cases have also more than doubled in students in Lincoln Public Schools," Holmes said. "The severe community spread of COVID is threatening our schools' and businesses' ability to operate and the ability of our health care system to care for patients."
For the week ending Saturday, 1,900 cases were confirmed in Lancaster County, which is up from 1,700 the prior week and is the highest case count of a single week since the pandemic began.
Some coaches and athletes have been vocal about wanting to play and practice. They say they can do so safely.
LPS' fall protocols for sports appeared to be a success. The district had very few disruptions among its varsity programs due to COVID-19. None of the varsity football or softball teams had to stop because of outbreaks, and two volleyball teams were known to go into quarantine.
There was only one forfeit in the entire state high school playoff schedule.
In announcing a three-week halt to winter sports, city and county officials pointed to outbreaks seen within teams or at athletic events. Holmes did not provide any data or specifics, only noting that the Health Department had identified COVID-19 cases associated with youth sports, school-sponsored sports and club sports.
Rupp, too, said he did not have any hard data to indicate high school and youth games are drivers in the transmission of COVID-19.Â
"I've heard of anecdotal stories of some transmission being seen and outbreaks being seen on teams," Rupp said. "I've heard of some anecdotal stories of either the students or their parents being very reluctant to have testing being performed for fear that they'll be responsible for the team getting shut down, then having to go into quarantine."
Could the structure of sports (for example, high school kids practicing after school means they're not at the mall with their friends or interacting with a large group after school) and the safety protocols applied by coaches and schools place student-athletes in a healthier setting?
"I think those considerations are completely justified," Rupp said. "If you're going to cancel these activities because they are risky, what are the participants going to do otherwise? If the alternative is, 'Oh, I'm just going to go and have a party with my friends, and not have a mask on and not practice any physical distancing,' then you're right. But that's not the judicial or appropriate alternative."
In the meantime, school districts and state leaders continue to monitor the numbers, and are making adjustments when needed.
Lancaster County's pause on sports means seven Heartland Athletic Conference schools currently are not practicing. The others — Columbus, Kearney, Grand Island, Norfolk and Fremont — started practices last Monday.
Fremont activities director Scott Anderson said coaches and athletes continue to take "all kinds of precautions."
"We all know how important physical activity is to people's mental health, and so that's why it's one of those important things that we're going to take all kinds of precautions and make sure we're doing it safe," Anderson said. "We're going to keep monitoring our numbers, and if there's things that come up that say, 'OK, numbers rise within our athletic department,' then we'll definitely make the necessary adjustments. But right now, our numbers show the safest thing is for kids to be in school and to be participating in extracurricular activities, so we're going keep moving forward, because it's so important to our kids."
Grand Island activities director Cynthia Wells said Grand Island is proceeding with the winter sports schedule as planned. Kearney, too, is moving forward as planned.
"We really had a good fall of school and activities so we are going to push a lot of the same guidelines, protocols and day-to-day practices forward into the winter season, but fully understand that with the current situation we are in, we will need to increase our awareness of those day-to-day best practices," Kearney AD Ryan Hogue said.
Millard Public Schools activities director Nolan Beyer said the district is in the process of developing contest protocols and there have been no conversations about pausing winter sports.