Due to a rise in coronavirus cases in DC, high-contact sports are now prohibited in the city, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in a press conference today. This new restriction does not affect professional or college sports.
All extracurricular sports are also suspended for all high schools in the city. Recreation centers and sports clubs also must suspend all practices and competitions for high school-aged athletes. Middle-school-aged students and younger can continue to engage in drills and clinics provided they’re non-contact and in cohorts of 12 or less.
The city counts basketball, boxing, football, hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, rugby, soccer, and wrestling as high-contact sports. Other sports are still permitted, as well as non-contact training for high-contact sports so long as participants follow social-distancing guidelines.
DC’s Department of Parks and Recreation will stop issuing permits for organized sports and team play on DPR fields. Any existing permits for sports involving physical contact may only be used for non-contact drills and workouts for middle-school-aged children and younger, or for adults.
Jane is a Chicago transplant who now calls Cleveland Park her home. Before joining Washingtonian, she wrote for Smithsonian Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and opera.
