Coronavirus & preps: San Francisco commits to outdoor sports — on its own timeline

Almost a week after all outdoor sports got the green light in California, San Francisco has committed to following the state guidance — with a slight delay and likely with its own modifications, county health officials said Thursday.

San Francisco will not implement the state’s new outdoor sports guidelines until it reaches the red reopening tier, which officials anticipate will happen on Tuesday, at which time moderate- and high-contact outdoor sports would be approved to start practice and competition in the county, they said, four days after the new state guidelines would otherwise allow.

However, they stipulated that “the city’s reopening plan is responsive to both a very dynamic public health context and the state’s guidance.”

“The eased youth sports guidelines for the state go into effect Friday. San Francisco intends largely to follow those, with some additional safety precautions, once we are in the red tier,” the San Francisco Department of Public Health said in a statement Thursday. “We anticipate the state will move us to the red tier next week. When that happens, San Francisco expects to make those changes to youth sports, so we will likely trail the state by only a handful of days.”

While the delay will have little impact on schools’ ability to fit in shortened spring seasons, the coaching community wondered why it was necessary at all. Last week, the California Department of Public Health issued guidance that would allow all outdoor sports in any county with an adjusted case rate below 14 per 100,000.

In San Francisco, the case rate met that threshold weeks before the state announced the new guidelines. The red reopening tier requires an adjusted case rate of half what is required by the state to resume outdoor sports, 7 per 100,000.

Any delay beyond this coming Tuesday could hamper hopes of a football season, particularly for the three private city schools in the West Catholic Athletic League. Teams must complete 14 days of practice before competing in a game and must finish their seasons by April 17, Central Coast Section commissioner Dave Grissom said this week.

“For baseball and softball, many of the red sports, I don’t know it would hamper them a whole lot, but for football it certainly would,” Grissom said Wednesday.

On the heels of coordinating a statewide effort to bring back outdoor sports, Patrick Walsh, the head football coach at Serra High in San Mateo, was facing the prospect of rebuilding his season from rubble for a second time. Walsh’s Serra Padres would have lost three of the five games on their schedule and been left without a single divisional opponent.

“Why continue to allow (the) roller coaster of emotions for the kids and their families,” Walsh said via text Thursday. “Why trail a few days when data and science support letting the kids play sports in safe environments? What’s the justification for that? Simply unify behind the Governor’s and CDPH plans across all of the state to minimize fear. What additional safety precautions are they talking about? Kids are not the enemy anymore — the data and science supports that.”

With health officials likely to relent, one of California’s most powerful prep leagues will avert a potential scheduling disaster.

The WCAL, home to Walsh’s Serra Padres and seven other private schools, divided its eight schools into two divisions: in one, the four located in Santa Clara County, and in the other, Walsh’s Padres grouped together with three schools in San Francisco. The schools in San Francisco cannot play those in Santa Clara County due to state travel restrictions.

Serra would have been forced to refill up to 60% of its schedule if tougher orders remained in San Francisco. Instead, the Padres stand to open WCAL play March 27 against Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco and will close the season with two trips into the city for contests at Archbishop Riordan and St. Ignatius. Still, Walsh was left frustrated.

“After almost a year and the new guidance, why are there still ifs?” he said.