Indoor competitions for public school athletic league sports like basketball, volleyball and wrestling can now resume due to the city’s low number of new COVID-19 cases.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the news during his weekly interview on the WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” shortly after reporting the city’s overall COVID-19 positivity rate has fallen below 1%, the lowest it has been since Labor Day last year.
“Now, because we have made so much progress we can bring back basketball, volleyball, wrestling indoors which is gonna make it a lot easier for everyone,” de Blasio said. Spectators will not be allowed at games and coaches and players will be required to play with masks on while indoors, the mayor added.
High school sports competitions started up again earlier this month with a number of health and safety guidelines including moving activities outdoors whenever possible. Friday’s announcement is another step towards normalcy for students and “another mark of progress,” according to de Blasio.
“This is going to bring a lot of hope and energy back, this is part of showing them that we are all going to overcome this,” said de Blasio. “It means so much to the whole school community, so this is a big deal.”
