The health and safety of our athletes, spectators, staff, and volunteers remain the highest priority for Northwest 45 Little League. We want nothing more than to see the ball fields full of young kids learning the great game of baseball. As we are all aware the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to change course from normal operations. We will be following State, Local, and little league guidelines to protect everyone who comes out to our facility to the best of our ability. Below, you will find a summary of actions we are taking to help ensure we are lowering COVID-19 risk as much as possible while also allowing our athletes to play. (The actions are taken from the Texas youth sports operators and participants guidelines, as well as the little league international guidelines).
Guidelines for Illness
Coaches and Parents Responsibilities
Be on the lookout for symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Call your doctor if you think you or a family member is sick.
In evaluating whether an individual has symptoms consistent with COVID-19, consider the following:
- Have they recently begun experiencing any of the following in a way that is not normal for them?
- Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit
- Loss of taste or smell
- Cough
- Difficulty breathing
- Shortness of breath
- Headache
- Chills
- Sore throat
- Shaking or exaggerated shivering
- Significant muscle pain or ache
- Diarrhea
Any players, spectators, umpires, or directors who either:
(a) are lab-confirmed to have COVID-19; or (b) experience the symptoms of COVID-19 (listed above) must stay at home throughout the infection period and cannot return to any team activity until they meet the return criteria.
In the case of an individual who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 but who has not been evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID-19, such individual is assumed to have COVID-19, and the individual may not return to team activities until the individual has completed the return criteria.
Individuals – including players, spectators, umpires, workers, coaches, directors and visitors–who have had close contact (defined below) with someone who is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19, as defined in this document and as determined by the appropriate public health agency, should stay at home through the 14-day incubation period, and should not attend games, practices, or team events. They need to meet the return to play criteria below to resume participation.
Close contact is defined as being directly exposed to infectious secretions (e.g., being coughed on while not wearing a mask or face shield); or being within 6 feet for a cumulative duration of 15 minutes, while not wearing a mask or face shield.
If a player, coach, or anyone with direct contact with the team has a positive test for COVID-19 in addition to the stay home criteria above we need the positive result to be reported to the following:
(a) Report it to the coach (Please report when symptoms first appeared)
(b) Coach will report it to the division director and the safety director
(c) The coach will then advise the team of a positive test, and if the close contact criteria apply then the team will need to follow the appropriate quarantine steps
If a single player, coach, or anyone with direct contact (dugout help) with the team has a positive test for COVID-19 the team will be asked if the close contact criteria apply (see above) and to self-evaluate for symptoms and follow the proper CDC guidelines
If two or more players, coaches, or direct contact helpers, from the same team have symptoms or test positive in a 7-day period the entire team will be asked to refrain from all baseball activities for a period of 10 days and asked to report self-evaluations for symptoms to their coach. Games that are scheduled during the suspension of team activities will be re-scheduled if possible.
Return to Play Criteria
In the case of an individual who was diagnosed with COVID-19, the individual may return to the any team activity when all three of the following criteria are met (adapted from Youth sports operators guide):
(a) at least three days (72 hours) have passed since recovery (resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications);
(b) the individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath); and
(c) at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
In the case of an individual who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 but who has not been evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID-19, the individual may return to any team activity when the following criteria are met:
If the individual has symptoms that could have been COVID-19 and wants to return to games or practices before completing the above stay at home period, the individual must either
(a) obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis or
(b) receive two separate confirmations at least 24 hours apart that they are free of COVID via acute infection tests at an approved COVID-19 testing location found at https://tdem.texas.gov/covid-19/.
**NW45LL reserves the right to modify any portion of these guidelines as new or additional information is provided. These guidelines have been established on August 5, 2020.