sports shouldn’t be available to play until California is in the yellow tier

Amelia Mancha, Staff Writer

With Santa Clara being one of the top counties with the most COVID-19 cases, you would think there would be more precautionary measures being taken to lower the number of cases— but no. There are over 100K cases and over 1000 deaths due to COVID, and people still don’t follow the CDC guidelines and are doing activities that aren’t essential. 

As an athlete myself, I think there are bigger issues going on right now than not being able to play sports. For basketball, football, and even volleyball, there is no way to play without being closer than 6 feet. The CDC stated that “activities that are high intensity or require a high level of exertion present a higher level of risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 than lower intensity activities particularly when indoor… a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it, and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes.” It’ll already be hard to stay 6 feet away from other people when playing sports, and people touch their faces very often to wipe the sweat or move their hair out of their faces. Touching the same sports equipment continuously would obviously spread COVID a lot more rapidly. 

Another article from the CDC states that to best protect yourself “Outside your home: Put 6 feet of distance between yourself and people who don’t live in your household. Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus. So even if athletes get temperature checks before every game, we still will not be able to assure that everyone is free of COVID-19 unless everyone gets tested, and that option isn’t available for some kids. 

While people are protesting for kids to play sports or even for their shops to open back up, healthcare workers are risking their lives to protect others. The fact that some people believe that high school sports are worth risking the lives of other people is so incredibly selfish and seems like a slap in the face to the nurses or doctors who see the effects of people, not social distancing or going out every day. 

Since Santa Clara county is still in the purple tier, which is the most restrictive tier, sports should not be people’s main priority.