UIL medical advisory committee to address health and safety concerns from coronavirus
The UIL announced Thursday that its Medical Advisory Committee will meet Sunday at 9 a.m. via video conference. Check back to the Star-Telegram and DfwVarsity for updates from the meeting.
It’s opened to the public, but only available live on the UIL MAC Webpage and the UIL YouTube page. There is no physical location for this meeting in order to ensure safe social distancing from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and is only accessible via the live stream.
An agenda can be found here: https://www.uiltexas.org/files/policy/MAC_Agenda_April_20.pdf
The Committee will address concerns and issues regarding students’ health and safety. Any recommendations from the Committee must be approved by the UIL Legislative Council and the Commissioner of Education before becoming policy.
The UIL has suspended all competition with the earliest return for games on May 4, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday that he extended the statewide social distancing through April.
Abbott also announced schools will remain closed until May 4, the same day UIL games were looking to return.
Dallas County announced on Friday that its stay-in-home order was extended until May 20.
The UIL was four games into Day 1 of the boys basketball state tournament in San Antonio when it decided to suspend the rest of the event. Then it announced suspension of the spring season for two weeks before extending it on March 19.
Other high school athletics in-season include soccer, softball, baseball, track, golf, tennis and powerlifting.
UIL Deputy Director Dr. Jamey Harrison stated on March 12 in San Antonio that “it’s our goal to complete this tournament [boys basketball] at some point in the future. It’s our intention to complete our other state championships.”
UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt sent out a message via Twitter on March 26, thanking the state’s superintendents, coaches, players and parents for their support and patience.
The boys and girls soccer seasons were down to the final two weeks before starting the playoffs, which were set to begin on March 26 with bi-district games. The softball playoffs were originally set for May 2 with baseball starting on May 9.
Other affected events included regional golf (April 20-23), regional track (April 24-25) and regional tennis (April 27-28), the powerlifting state tournament, high school spring football and football 7-on-7.
The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) and Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) have also suspended their seasons until further notice. TAPPS is re-airing past state tournament games on TAPPS TV.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
