This morning the California Department of Public Health released amended Return to Play guidelines for baseball and softball. To see the updated guidelines,
CLICK HERE.
Local Leagues can now resume playing in competitive games on one of two conditions: 1) their county enters the Red Tier, or 2) While in the Purple Tier, their county has an adjusted case rate equal to or less than 14 per 100,000 and parents have signed off on an informed consent form indicating their understanding and acknowledgement of the risks of playing during the pandemic.
So what does this mean? If your county falls within one of these two scenarios, games can resume (with the continued mitigation guidelines in place) starting no sooner than February 26th. Sadly, at this point in time, no county in Southern California meets either of these scenarios.
BUT NUMBERS ARE TRENDING DOWNWARD! The state updates their data every Tuesday. We have been seeing a drop in numbers (as much as double digits in certain areas) every week. As of now, here are the current case rates per 100,000 based on county:
- Imperial: 18.4
- Inyo: 41
- Kern: 26.8
- Los Angeles: 20
- Mono: 20.5
- Orange: 20.7
- Riverside: 28.8
- San Bernardino: 24.4
- San Diego: 22.2
- Santa Barbara: 27
- Ventura: 26.2
If your leagues choose to resume competitions under the Purple Tier they are also required to provide each parent an Informed Consent form for them to sign and return to the league.
We are getting closer... much closer than we were a month ago. We are very optimistic that we will have a spring season in 2021.