Masked Up For Hoops?

IHSA Sports Medicine doctor reveals potential mask requirement for hoops season, criticizes Pritzker's youth sports policy

As the fall calendar clears and the winter sports season approaches, doubts linger as to whether the state of Illinois will have a high school winter sports season.

Thursday, those doubts were neither validated or refuted. But comments from a doctor offer insight into the dysfunctional relationship between two organizations charged with the return of youth sports.

On a Zoom call with reporters, a member of the Illinois High School Association Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, Dr. Preston Wolin, had this to say about basketball season, scheduled to begin Nov. 16:

“The Illinois Department of Public Health has responded to the (SMAC) that includes a draft considering allowing basketball season to proceed with everybody being masked,” Dr. Wolin said.

Wolin is a current and founding member of the SMAC, which first formed in 1984.

Wolin declined to say whether the IDPH was in the process of adopting or updating its policies to reflect a mask-only policy for basketball or other winter sports such as wrestling, labeled a ‘high-risk’ sport.

He did offer this statement on the current relationship between the IHSA and IDPH.

“As of right now, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the IHSA are not on the same page,” Wolin said.

Basketball is categorized as a ‘medium risk’ sport, according to the “All Sports Guidance” document released in July by Governor Pritzker’s Office in consultation with the IDPH. The document was created in order to set health and safety guidelines for the return of youth sports amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Pritzker has repeatedly said he is leaning on the IDPH’s expertise when setting guidelines for the safe return of youth sports.

If basketball has a season in 2020-21, comments from Wolin Thursday cast doubt on just how the sport can be played with masks and what, if any, games will be played.

The All Sports Guidance document lists competition for ‘medium risk’ sports such as basketball as allowable at “Type of Play Levels 1 and 2.”

At Level 2, teams can only compete in '“intra-team scrimmages…with parental consent for minors; no competitive play.”

No games with other schools would be allowed this season if the Type of Play Level 2 designation for basketball remains as is.

Level 3 allows for '“Intra-conference or Intra-EMS-region1 or intra-league play/meets only; state- or league-championship game/meet allowed for low-risk sports only.” Level 4, the highest level, would allow for the competitive play to be as it was pre-virus, with tournaments and a state series.

On the Zoom call, Dr. Wolin offered no insights as to whether the IDPH is ready to adjust the type of play levels for basketball or what criteria is being used to make #ReturnToPlay health and safety decisions.

He did criticize the use of sports categorizations like those used Illinois’ All Sports Guidance document in determining return to play guidelines.

“If opportunities are going to be denied for young athletes to play, what is the reason for denying the opportunity for those athletes to play?” Dr. Wolin said. “We are beyond the discussion of the potential negative effects of play. We are now in a situation where we have enough data to say soccer for sure, football probably, baseball definitely, and basketball, I can’t believe there will be more contact in basketball than football.

“Therefore, trying to set up these categories that have been used in Illinois is a process without a delineation in data. It is a decision that was made by somebody else based on their view of what sports is all about.”

There are questions whether wearing a mask during athletics competition is safe for the user.

Dr. David Smith a medical director of youth sports medicine in the University of Kansas Health System, said mask-wearing can reduce risk of catching or spreading the virus.

But masks worn during sports play must be frequently changed out or could lead to more exposure.

“As soon as you sweat, basically the air you are ventilating in wets the inside of that mask and the efficacy of that mask goes down tremendously. So theoretically, on a hot day with someone masking up, if they are playing sports they better be changing that mask frequently and every time they change it, they better wash their hands before they touch it and then once they take it off make sure they put it back on and keep their hands away from their face,” Dr. Smith said. “People are not masking how we mask in the hospitals or in our clinics. The wet mask is something to pay attention to. If your medical experts are working with the governor, they should know that research. They should be able to give that information to the governor.”