Just a week into the fall sports season, one East Hampton High School football player has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in quarantine, the district announced Sunday morning.
"Thankfully, the team was wearing their masks when they used the locker room, and under the current guidelines, only that one player is required to be quarantined," Joe Vasile-Cozzo, the athletic director, wrote in an email to families. "Our Covid coordinator has determined that the team may continue to practice and participate in all normal football activities."
The district will offer voluntary Covid tests to all of East Hampton's varsity and jayvee football players on Monday at 8:30 a.m. in the high school library.
"We urge all of our students and staff to continue to practice social distancing, proper hand-washing hygiene, and compliance with current Covid-19 guidelines," Mr. Vasile-Cozzo said. "Remember that anytime you enter the buildings on campus you must wear your mask. We are grateful the team followed all protocols."
Earlier this month, the East Hampton School Board discussed making vaccination mandatory for all high school sports teams and extracurricular activities, but it was too late to issue such a mandate for the fall sports teams because the season was to start the following week.
In March, when schools were playing abbreviated versions of all three high school athletic seasons, the entire jayvee football team was sidelined by a 10-day quarantine after one of its players tested positive for Covid-19. One jayvee assistant coach had tested positive for the virus about two weeks prior to that. The varsity team was unaffected by that case.