LANSING, Mich — Student athletes will soon be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced Friday.
The state has recently experienced an uptick in COVID-19 cases, with Michigan having the country’s fifth-highest rate of new cases last week.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS, said during a news conference Friday that many outbreaks have been associated with sports teams.
She said local health departments throughout Michigan identified 315 outbreaks associated with sports in January and February.
“Last week, for the first time since we started tracking outbreaks, those in K-12 settings exceeded the number in long term care facilities," Khaldun said. "Now, this is a testament to how well we have done with vaccinating our staff and our residents at long term care facilities, but it also speaks to the risk we see with some of the activities children in this age group are engaging in."
In response to this uptick, student athletes aged 13 to 19 will begin taking weekly tests in order to participate in sports. These changes are “designed to balance day-to-day activities while controlling the spread of COVID-19,” according to the state.
Both Khaldun and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said these changes are needed because outbreaks associated with sports can lead to school closures.
“Outbreaks in this age group can have an impact on our children's education,” Khaldun said. “The most important thing we all want for our children is to have in-person learning and not have school closures, or our children out of school, because of having COVID-19 or needing to quarantine because they have been exposed.”
During Friday’s news conference, Whitmer also announced that capacity limits in outdoor stadiums and arenas that establish infection control plans will be increased to 20%.
The updated order goes into effect March 22 and will last until April 19.
Watch the conference here:
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