NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana High School Athletic Association will not cancel sports, despite a request from state officials to call them off to slow the spread of COVID-19.
On Thursday, Gov. John Bel Edwards and State Epidemiologist Theresa Sokol asked schools to cancel after school activities to slow the spread of COVID-19’s omicron variant.
The next day, the LHSAA issued a statement saying that they will not call off high school sports, but will leave that decision up to individual schools.
“I have the utmost confidence that all our association membership is doing what is acceptable and right for their respective communities,” LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine said. “This I know because you have all proven it throughout this entire COVID-19 continued disruption and challenges.”
Along with the recommendation to call off after school activities, Louisiana health officials are recommending schools institute universal indoor masking policies and space students out until this COVID surge ends.
Gov. Edwards’ previous mask mandate, which included K-12 schools, ended in October 2021.
Louisiana is seeing a record number of new COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spread across the country. The state reported more than 12,000 new cases on Thursday along with an increase of 103 more COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
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