Playing Through Covid: "Finally Something Good Has Happened."

How a school district, public health agency and the private sector teamed up to get a football team back on the field

(Photo Credit: Daily Herald)

Vernon Hills High School Athletic Director Brian McDonald knew the spring sports season would be impossible to predict.

But he never could have anticipated the phone call he received Monday.

The Lake County Department of Public Health, the agency that a week before had shut down the football program for 14 days after a COVID-19 positive in the program, had good news.

It had re-investigated the situation and adjusted its public health recommendation.

“They said, ‘if you are able to get your kids PCR tests and the kids have a negative test result, we are comfortable with you resuming activities,” McDonald said. “We said, ‘OK.’”

All they had to do next was get dozens of football players PCR tests.

Since January, Community District 128, the district that encompasses Libertyville and Vernon Hills High Schools, had provided mandatory recurrent viral surveillance testing for all in-season athletes. Also referred to as rapid diagnostic, point-of-care antigen testing, the tests are done via nasal swab with ‘rapid’ results within 15 minutes.

A PCR test, or Polymerase Chain Reaction, is considered the ‘gold standard’ by virologists for its accuracy and reliability. But it requires a longer timeframe, several hours at best, to receive a positive or negative result.

In order to get players back on the field by Tuesday, schools officials at Vernon Hills would have to administer the PCR tests Monday and get the results as soon as possible.

Another complicating factor—when the LCHD first shut the Vernon Hills program down, the Cougars had not yet accumulated the 12 practices required to play a game.

If Vernon Hills were to play its next scheduled opponent, Highland Park High School on March 27, it needed to participate in two more practices (they had completed 10 practices).

Time was of the essence. And the Giants, told the game against the Cougars was cancelled, had been hunting around for an opponent to fill the March 27 vacated game.

“Highland Park was searching for another opponent and entertaining some possibilities,” McDonald said. “I called Paul (Harris, Highland Park Interim AD) and said ‘guess what?’ He said, ‘really?’ Let’s figure out a way to resurrect this game.”

But first, the PCR tests.

In a Monday conversation between D128 Superintendent Dr. Prentiss Lea and McDonald, someone suggested using a testing location in Waukegan.

Could they go there?

Dr. Lea had a better idea.

Passport Health, the health care company running the district’s weekly rapid antigen testing, could they conduct the tests? And could they mobilize a testing center on short notice?

“I said, ‘Prentiss, don’t they do rapid testing? He said, ‘let me call Passport and get on that,’” McDonald said. "‘I said, ‘you’re the superintendent. Go right ahead.’”

By late Monday morning, Passport Health was on board and would be able to offer tests at Vernon Hills High School between 2-4 pm.

A message went out to football players about the tests. If all went well, they could be on the practice field by Tuesday.

“The message said, ‘do not make plans between 2 and 4 pm (Monday),’” Cougars senior football player Ryan Mann said.

On March 15, players got the news they would have to quarantine for 14 days due to a positive test. Their first game, March 20 against Niles North and the March 27 game against Highland Park, were abruptly cancelled.

It was another blow in a seemingly endless series of gut punches for Cougars players who hadn’t played a football game since October 2019.

“That was disappointing. One guy got it (Covid) and we have to shut down,” Mann said. “The school said they needed to take every precaution necessary and for us to try and stay positive and stay active.”

Vernon Hills players conditioned on their own, took academic classes remotely and were instructed to watch and take notes on their next scheduled opponent, Deerfield, who beat Maine West 35-6 on March 19.

A resumption of team activities for the Cougars was scheduled for the week of March 29.

“We started with Zoom meetings and preparing for Deerfield. We had to keep them engaged and running kids through workouts,” Cougars coach Bill Bellecomo said.

Then Monday, everything changed.

Like many Chicagoland schools, Vernon Hills has dealt with pauses to activities for multiple sports teams in 2020-21.

Last fall, the girls swimming and diving program was forced to shut down due to Covid-related reasons before it could conclude its season. And the girls volleyball team, currently playing its season, is in the midst of a 14-day quarantine due to a positive test. It is scheduled to resume activities Thursday.

It is not unusual for public health officials to revise initial recommendations involving a COVID-19 case if further investigation warrants an alteration, according to Lake County Health Department Medical Epidemiologist Dr. Sana Ahmed.

“Based on initial information provided regarding possible exposure and risk, the Lake County Health Department will provide preliminary recommendations,” Dr. Ahmed told The Kerr Report. “Upon interview of infected persons and close contacts and gathering more details of potential exposures, those recommendations may subsequently be revised.”

Responding to a specific question about the Vernon Hills football case, the suggestion to school officials by the Lake County Health Department to that football players take a PCR test rather than an rapid antigen test was a function of the higher probably of detecting an athlete with an active case of COVID-19.

“Rapid molecular and antigen tests, usually provide more rapid results than the RT-PCR, but have a higher probability of missing an active infection. Therefore, it may be necessary to confirm a rapid antigen or molecular test with a PCR test especially in a setting where spread can occur rapidly,” Dr. Ahmed said.

After athletes took the PCR tests Monday, health care providers prepared a Google Drive document with players names and test results.

Before Bellecomo went to sleep Monday night at 11:30 p.m., he checked the document.

“I didn’t see the results. I had a restless night’s sleep,” Bellecomo said.

At the crack of dawn, Bellecomo rose and checked the results again.

The document read all negatives.

“Finally, something good had happened,” Bellecomo said “We’ve been waiting for something good, the kids have been waiting for something good.”

In all, 34 Vernon Hills football players took the PCR test. Six players were not required to as they work in nursing homes and grocery stores and as essential workers, are fully vaccinated, according to Bellecomo.

McDonald praised the Lake County Health Department for adjusting its initial ruling and showing that public health decisions, rather than take the form of immovable verdicts, can be modified as new data and becomes available.

“Every situation is different and I don’t pretend to know what every situation is,” McDonald said. “I appreciate the Lake County Health Department, they have general standards to follow but they look at cases somewhat individually. In our circumstance, they said, ‘here’s what you can do, let’s see if you can make it happen.’ I can’t say enough about them and working through us with these challenges.”

For Vernon Hills coaches and players, there will be no more COVID-19 testing before Saturday’s game at Highland Park.

The biggest challenge is preparing to play a football game after a week layoff. That is one hurdle coaches and players happily accept.

“Tuesday, the kids were so locked in. We went for three hours and the coaches said ‘they are ready to go now,’ that’s how excited the kids are,” Bellecomo said. “Our administrators are great. They are all about the kids and worked with the health department in a safe manner to get this done.”

Said Mann: “We tried to stay positive when we were shut down. We’re excited (to play).”