SUNNIER OUTLOOK
Sports could return in next phase of RI reopening plan
PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo Wednesday said youth and adults sports will be allowed to have no-contact and low-contact games between stable groups with no limit on overall group size during the third phase of the state’s reopening plan.
A stable group means the same players and coaches together over the course of the summer.
No-contact and low-contact sports include baseball, softball, tennis and golf. Right now, only scrimmages, drills and practices are allowed for youth and adults participating in those team sports.
“Obviously sports and athletics are an important part of our life all the time, but especially in the summer,” Raimondo said at her COVID-19 press briefing yesterday. “It’s important to me as your governor, as a mother, and as someone who has played sports my whole life, to do everything I can to get our kids back out safely.”
During Phase 3, which begins around July 1, Raimondo said games can be played between teams within Rhode Island as well as outside Rhode Island provided there are no stay-at-home orders or other travel restrictions in the state that the other team comes from.
During Phase 3, spectators will also be allowed at games, but limited to two spectators per player to keep crowd sizes down. Spectators will be required to wear masks.
³We’re encouraging play ers to wear masks when prac tical, but I recognize that is of ten not practical and so we’re asking players to keep a si[ foot distance from one anoth er, avoid unnecessary contact and do not play at all if they are sick,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo said close con tact sports like football, bas ketball and soccer are being discouraged in Phase 3 and that youth and adults partici pating in those sports will be limited to drills, practices and scrimmages.
Phase 3 will also not in clude 2020 2021 school year interscholastic sports. *uid ance and new rules for school athletes will be provided at the end of the summer before school starts up again, the governor said.
*uidance for youth and adult no contact and low con tact sports during Phase 3 will be posted at www.reopeningri.com next week.
³I’m asking every parent of a child who plays sports, ev ery coach, and every athletic director involved in summer sports to be creative and use your very best Mudgment so that we all stay safe,” Rai mondo said.
At the start of her brief ing yesterday, Raimondo an nounced si[ new coronavirus related deaths in Rhode Island and 73 new cases. As of yesterday, the total number of positive cases in Rhode Is land stood at 16,603 and the death toll due to CO9I' 19 was 912.
³The data on new cases and hospitalizations) contin ues to be a good news story. We continue to trend in the right direction,” she said. ³This should make us feel confident that in Rhode Island we’re dealing very well with the virus.”
Raimondo also announced Wednesday that there will be some changes made at the state’s beaches following re ports of large crowds and long lines last weekend. Starting this weekend, parking at state beaches will increase from 50 percent to 75 percent of capacity, which will add over 2,000 additional parking spac es, she said.
Raimondo is also encour aging Rhode Islanders to buy beach passes online at www. beachparkingri.com, includ ing season passes, which will no longer be sold at the beach es as of this weekend.
³This will help us cut down on lines and get people in and out more quickly,” she said.
Raimondo said the state is also expected to launch a new online tool this weekend at www.riparks.com beachpass so people can check to see if beach parking lots are full be fore they drive to the beach.
³I’m putting my faith in the people of Rhode Island. We’re opening the beaches more and we’re counting on you to follow the rules,” she said. ³But if in the next two to three weekends we see no mask wearing at the pavilion and large groups of people bunching up, then I will, in a minute, go back to where we were at 50 percent capacity or less at the beaches.”
Raimondo also announced that this Saturday, -une 27, will be the last day of testing at the C9S operated testing site at Twin River in Lincoln.
³We’ve been planning for this for a while,” she said. ³They are only now testing a few hundred people there a day and we’ve been slowly declining. That was always meant to be temporary and it’s time to unwind it because we’re in a different place now. I will forever be grateful to our local company C9S for stepping up when we needed them.”
Raimondo also cautioned Rhode Islanders about being complacent as the state pre pares to begin Phase 3, saying she is seeing situations where people are not wearing masks, gathering in large crowds and businesses openly violating the rules.
³1ot every state is in the situation we’re in and if we get complacent, we’re going to be back in a mess,” she said. ³I want to be crystal clear about this – this is about science. This isn’t about poli tics or what you might want to do or what you think might be best or convenient to do. This is Must about the facts.”
³If we start to break the rules we will have to unwind our progress and there’s no reason that should happen,” she added.
Raimondo said Rhode Is land’s fortunes can change quickly if people don’t follow the rules, noting that 33 states now have a rolling average of new cases that are higher than last week.
³Right now we have a win ning formula in Rhode Island and I am asking you, the peo ple of Rhode Island, to come together and stick with the formula so we can continue to reopen our economy,” she said.