The prospect of having high school basketball being played around the state of Illinois this winter became even more grim. Illinois Governor Pritzker announced yesterday that the state will move to Tier 3 mitigations. This announcement comes just two days before the IHSA’s board of directors meet on November 19th. As a result, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls bowling and boys swimming, all of which were deemed safe to continue in October, will not begin to play as scheduled until at least after the first of the year. The IHSA board will still meet on the 19th to continue plotting out potential paths for high school sports through the remainder of the school year.
In a press release to the Peoria Journal Star on Tuesday afternoon, Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh stated that the governor’s office “is incredibly busy responding to the second wave of coronavirus that has swept the midwest”. The release went on to say, “IHSA and members of our administration have an open line of communication and have had one since the start of the pandemic response. The trajectory of this virus is not moving in the right direction and it would be premature for the administration to opine about the distant future when so much of the very near future will be dedicated to preventing further spread of this deadly virus and saving lives. Currently, any group activity where you interact with others poses a high risk due to alarmingly high positivity rates across the state. More than 1.1 million students are currently in remote learning and as the Governor has said, his first goal is to get students back in the classroom for in person instruction.”
IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson then released a statement to the media saying that they were still fully planning on having a meeting with several school representatives and health organizations on Thursday. When asked if he would attend the meeting, Governor Pritzker said on Tuesday that his office has been clear on their stance on the subject and did not plan on being in attendance.
Here’s the entire press release from Anderson:
“The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) recognizes that today’s announcement by Governor Pritzker will temporarily pause the IHSA’s winter sports season. We remain optimistic that these new mitigations, coupled with the emergence of a vaccine, will aid in creating participation opportunities in the New Year for IHSA student-athletes in winter, spring, and summer sports. The IHSA Board of Directors will meet as scheduled on November 19, 2020, to continue plotting out potential paths for IHSA sport and activity participation through the remainder of the school year. Although representatives from the Governor’s office and the Illinois Department of Public Health will be unable to attend the meeting, today’s updated guidance from Governor Pritzker will aid the Board’s decision-making. We have asked Deputy Governor Ruiz and Dr. Ezike to engage with us in the near future, so that we can collaborate on developing a plan to safely conduct IHSA sports and activities as soon as possible. IHSA schools have been exemplary in adhering to state regulations throughout this pandemic and we hope that non-school programs will hold themselves to the same standard as we all put the long-term health and safety of our fellow citizens ahead of short-term athletic competition.”
