Idaho moving forward with fall sports

The Idaho High School Activities Association will press forward with fall sports on its normal timeline despite a meteoric rise in coronavirus cases in the state, the Tribune learned Wednesday.

In an interview with The Idaho Press of Nampa, IHSAA executive director Ty Jones said the first available dates for practices in the state are still in place. Those begin Aug. 10.

The board of directors is meeting today to set its guidelines and principles for return-to-play procedures, including how to protect all of its student-athletes as well as including fans in the stands at its events. This will be a formulated plan for schools to follow. Ultimately, it will be up to individual school districts to carry out their own plans and procedures.

“The thing we’ve focused on more than anything else is how are you going to safely allow kids to participate,” Jones told the Press. “What are you going to do with your fans? How are you going to address a positive test and what is your return to play protocol?”

The IHSAA decided to shut sports down April 17 after putting things on hold for almost a month when the pandemic was in its early stages.

In Idaho, there are 12,445 reported cases of the coronavirus, including 727 new probable and confirmed cases, with 110 confirmed deaths, according to state’s website at 4 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday. In Nez Perce County, there have been 103 confirmed positive tests of COVID-19, with 19 deaths, the third-most in the state. In Latah County, there have been 32 confirmed cases. In the North Central Health District, which encompasses the entire area, there have been 174 confirmed cases.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website has reported 3,416,428 confirmed cases in the United States, including 60,971 new cases, with a total of 135,991 deaths (these numbers typically lag a day behind). According to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine website, the number of cases in the U.S. climbed to 3,497,847, with a total of 137,407 deaths, as of 10:30 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday.

However, the number of cases have been on the rise since the middle of June. In fact, the New York Times reported the state has seen a 1,491 percent increase in positive results since the state reopened.

Last week, Gov. Brad Little and the State Board of Education pressed forward with a plan to reopen schools on time, letting each individual district decide on what its plan will be. The IHSAA looks to be following a similar path.

Jones said the organization will continue to monitor the situation and adjust on the fly as news develops and warrants.

“We’re cautiously optimistic, but we’re also realists,” he said. “We see what’s going on.”

With numerous state associations across the country contemplating shutting down sports, or possibly “flipping” seasons around, Jones told the Press that everything was on the table.

“We’re smart enough to know we can’t leave anything off the table,” Jones said. “It would definitely be our preference not to move sports. But it’s important to get our kids playing and playing safely.”

Decisions will have to be made on the local level as far as scheduling goes. Because the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association delayed the start of its fall season July 8 by almost three weeks, moving the start date from Aug. 19 for football and Aug. 24 for other sports to Sept. 5 for football and Sept. 7 for other sports, it left a huge hole in many teams’ schedules in this part of the state.

The athletic directors of the Inland Empire League, of which Lewiston and Moscow are a part, are set to meet in person today in Coeur d’Alene to discuss some of those pressing issues.

Walden may be reached at (208) 848-2258, dwalden@lmtribune.com, or on Twitter at @waldo9939.