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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 2020)
8A — THE OBSERVER School reopening criteria made fall sports season more unlikely he OSAA executive ones with large high schools board is set to meet — out of the picture? next week to fur- In a conversation last ther discuss how to proceed week, Elgin Athletic with the fall sports season. Director Jeff Rysdam said The execu- one sug- tive board gestion is RONALD last week to have the delayed leagues/ BOND the start of districts SPORTS EDITOR the season each to Sept. 23, school and cited the need for more plays in to have athletics guidance from state author- make the call on how they ities on their plan to reopen handle the fall schedule. schools. Maybe play a set of league The guidance is now games and have a league here, and it just made tournament, just so the stu- OSAA’s job a heckuva lot dent-athletes can have a tougher. season, even if OSAA can’t Gov. Kate Brown and the move forward. Oregon Health Authority With what has come essentially laid out a num- down in the last couple of bers-based criteria for days, that is likely the only school’s to meet in each way there will be athletics county — and, the state as in the fall. a whole — to reopen their The only other choice doors to in-person learning seems to be to move the in the fall. fall season to the spring, as Academics and athletics NAIA and several states at the prep level go hand- already have done. in-hand — academics need to be in place for athletics to happen. No school, no sports. It will interesting to see is if districts that engage in only distance learning elect to allow students to play sports. A report Wednesday from the Corvallis Gazette- Times stated the Corvallis School District is sus- pending athletic activities until further notice, noting the need for in-person learning. Portland Public Schools and Salem-Keizer Public Schools also elected to pro- ceed with distance learning until November, according to The Oregonian and Salem Statesman Journal, respectively. And a press release from Eugene 4J Schools this week said it is going with online learning until October at the earliest. If other districts follow the lead of Corvallis that in-person learning is required to play in the fall, the decisions may force OSAA’s hand, but I’ll come back to that in a moment. By the new standards, the state needs to have three weeks in a row with a posi- tive test rate for COVID-19 of 5% or less. Oregon last week was under that mark for the fi rst time in a month when it ticked in at 4.8%, but this week, as of Wednesday, the state is trending at 5.7%. Even if you hit that stan- dard, the county numbers still will be tricky. Yes, there is an exception that allows counties a higher mark, but the exception is only triple the number of cases each week. Union County needs to have less than three cases per week (less than nine under the exception) for three straight weeks to open schools, and, by extension, sports. No cases in a week helps, and two more weeks would allow the county’s schools to reopen. But one uptick that may seem small at fi rst (for instance, fi ve cases in back-to-back days) at any time could reset the county clock or, if in-person was in place, move it back to distance learning only. Here is where the bigger issue comes into play for OSAA: having 36 coun- ties to account for, and schools in each of those counties. You’ll likely have counties that meet the cri- teria and others that don’t. Multnomah, Umatilla, Malheur or Marion coun- ties aren’t opening any- time soon. How then does OSAA put a statewide plan in place for the fall season when you have some coun- ties that will qualify for a sports season and others that won’t? Now circle back to the conundrum with the move by Portland, Salem, Eugene and Corvallis education leaders. How does OSAA not only put a plan in play that can accommodate met- rics for each county, but with four major districts — T THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2020 SPORTS Find more news online at lagrandeobserver.com Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics proudly welcomes: Brooke Davis, DO To the GRH Regional Medical Clinic team as a Primary Care Provider (PCP) Dr. Brooke Davis joins the GRH Regional Medical Clinic from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where she served as a family physician and clinic medical director for the past three years. Dr. Davis is a four year veteran of the US Air Force, a graduate of the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed her residency at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Oregon. She is is a 4th generation Oregonian, and is happy to be near family here in Eastern Oregon. Dr. Davis loves full full-spectrum family medicine, especially geriatric and lifestyle medicine, and uses Osteopathic Manipulative Treatments (OMT) in her daily practice as part of a whole whole- person integrated approach to treating her patients. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and camping, watching football, and spending time with her husband and two sons. Join us in welcoming osteopathic physician Brooke Davis back to the Grande Ronde Valley! GRH Regional Medical Clinic Brooke Davis, DO 506 4th Street, La Grande • 541.663.3138 • grh.org/RMC/ Learn more about Dr. Brooke Davis in our online Provider Directory at www.grh.org today! Sale Ends July 31st, 2020
