For safety’s sake, Cobleskill-Richmondville will be testing athletes in high-risk ‘Fall 2’ sports that started practice this week.
Whether to test was a question at the school board’s March 1 meeting; since then, C-R’s medical director, Dr. John Novak, indicated that athletes in football and girls’ volleyball should be tested for COVID-19.
By state policy, C-R can’t insist on testing for the lower-risk sports of soccer and cross country for both boys and girls.
C-R successfully tested for winter sports––basketball and wrestling––and tests were “100 percent negative,” Superintendent Carl Mummenthey said last week.
But, he noted, many schools competing against C-R don’t test athletes.
Even though opposing teams may not test for football and volleyball, it’s important for C-R to do so, Mr. Mummenthey said.
That way, he added, “we can very quickly isolate students” if necessary and “contain any exposure.”
Fall 2 testing will be similar to winter testing, with four people administering tests for three hours twice each week.
“It’s as close to win-win as we could get,” Mr. Mummenthey said.