Mask mandate for HS XC races

The most important thing is that you match:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R3_Idm5z5w

Please read about the Chinese man and 2 Chinese kids separately, who died running with masks.

Show them the stories.

I'm as huge a mask supporter as anyone, but their proposal isn't prudent and could create major issues.

There is no way to convince administrators to change this policy. They don’t want to have sports. This is a risk and a burden they really don’t want on their plate right now. So you either do it or just go run club track not affiliated with the school.

Are you getting a full stipend?

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iamconfused wrote:
There is no way to convince administrators to change this policy. They don’t want to have sports. This is a risk and a burden they really don’t want on their plate right now. So you either do it or just go run club track not affiliated with the school.

Are you getting a full stipend?

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Agree that it's borderline dangerous. I vaguely remember seeing something called active shield, like a full face shield that covers everything. I would look into something like that, thats made for exercising. That or you'll have to adjust the workouts so you don't go into anything that is creating a high amount of oxygen deficiency.

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Frustrated coach wrote:
We have finally gotten the opportunity to have some cross country races over the next month or so, but it turns out that all athletes will need to wear masks WHILE racing (not just before/after, at the starting line, etc.). These will only be duel meets so probably max ~30 runners. The funny thing is that during our practices this year we have not been required to wear masks.

Any ideas on how to convince the powers that be that this is a ridiculous idea? Any states or areas where they actually required masks for outdoor races?
Or alternatively, best masks to run in?

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There are two ways you can tackle this:
https://img.particlenews.com/img/id/0sDFPM_0PeVcOvh00?type=thumbnail_800x600

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/7c/33/1a7c33133739b424014d8ff67a8e5e0b.jpg

Here are some studies:

"Chen and Willeke [7] determined that a surgical mask had a 25% penetration rate of submicrometer-size aerosols at a flow rate of 5 L/min and a 70% penetration rate at 100 L/min [41]. While exercising, an athlete’s flow rate increases drastically, decreasing the effectiveness of surgical masks. Therefore, surgical masks used during periods of exercise may be far less protective in athletic populations. Currently, it is unknown whether the use of cloth or surgical masks by athletes will prevent the spread of the virus."

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7482372/)

"Recent updates from the WHO indicate that people should not wear masks while exercising due to respiratory difficulties and potential microorganism growth caused by sweat droplets [51]. "
"The use of masks during a short exercise with an intensity around 6–8 METS, decreases O2 by 3.7% and increases the CO2 concentration by 20%. In some model of mask during exercise, 20 000 ppm of CO2 (2%) is reached and it can be uncomfortable and symptomatic for some of the subjects. " (20,000PPM CO2 is classified as CO2 poisoning with significant side effects from nausea to potentially blacking out).

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7275167/)

"Generally, prolonged exercise at a maximal level may not be possible or safe while wearing a face mask. Special considerations should be made for athletes with underlying cardiorespiratory conditions - Johnson et al"

" is interesting to see that the collection efficiency has a peak of efficiency which actually is very small with a peak around a 3% and with approaching velocities around 0.6 m/s or thereabouts which is justified by the advection of the tiny respiratory micro-particles with the stream lines. This velocity is much more close to average walkers rather than runners where as seen in the figure the collision efficiency drops. - Arias et al" (FYI, the collision efficiency drops to .03% at .97 M/s which is 2.2 MPH. IE, Collision efficiency of respiratory droplets is greater at rest than in motion. The collision requires some airflow so the particles move, but not more than 1 M/s as then it is too fast. The risk of transmission in turbulent airflow is minimal.)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42978-020-00071-4

"the odds of indoor transmission was very high compared to outdoors (18.7 times; 95% CI"
Lastly, in the Tour de France, ZERO riders contracted covid, even though they were riding in a peloton within inches of each other for hours per day. Four team staff contracted it as well as the race director, zero cases were reported in the peloton and crucially, zero transmissions occurred from the five positives.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiaa742/6009483

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Frustrated coach wrote:

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iamconfused wrote:
There is no way to convince administrators to change this policy. They don’t want to have sports. This is a risk and a burden they really don’t want on their plate right now. So you either do it or just go run club track not affiliated with the school.

Are you getting a full stipend?

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Stipend is irrelevant. I teach at the school and have no plans of leaving.

But I disagree that the administrators don't want to have sports. Sports have come back before actual real in-person academics. Seems like the sports are prioritized but in the wrong way (masks).

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Check the CDC site for guidelines. At least the WHO recommends against masks during strenuous exercise. Show them that.

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Stoppit Smith wrote:
Please read about the Chinese man and 2 Chinese kids separately, who died running with masks.

Show them the stories.

I'm as huge a mask supporter as anyone, but their proposal isn't prudent and could create major issues.

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until the first time one of your runners faints / passes out and cracks head on pavement, road sidewalk. utter nonsense.

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iamconfused wrote:

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Frustrated coach wrote:

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iamconfused wrote:
There is no way to convince administrators to change this policy. They don’t want to have sports. This is a risk and a burden they really don’t want on their plate right now. So you either do it or just go run club track not affiliated with the school.

Are you getting a full stipend?

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Stipend is irrelevant. I teach at the school and have no plans of leaving.

But I disagree that the administrators don't want to have sports. Sports have come back before actual real in-person academics. Seems like the sports are prioritized but in the wrong way (masks).

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Stipend is not “irrelevant.” If they are not paying you in full they don’t value what you are doing.

Administrators don’t want athletics. Maybe 1 or two here or there but district administration do not want this. They caved to political pressure and are throwing XC out there for a weak 3 week season with a couple of races to say they had sports. And odds are you aren’t getting paid or some small fraction of it. Did they provide the required PPE for students & staff or you on your own.

You think they wouldn’t pay football coaches or give them anything? The fact you not standing up for equal pay is why our sport gets bent over and violated. Stand up for yourself man.

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shoeless in seattle wrote:
until the first time one of your runners faints / passes out and cracks head on pavement, road sidewalk. utter nonsense.

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I saw some pictures of high school races in northern California where the kids were wearing masks. Obviously, this is no longer about the masks or public safety. I don't see why people aren't getting this. The masks are not going away when COVID goes down. The "health" officials are not defining a time of return to normal or no masking based on any metric because there is no intent on their part to give up the power they've gained. There will just be repeated moving of the goalposts over and over again. This nonsense ends when the public says we've had enough and stops adhering to their rules.

This can happen. We saw it happen in much of Southern California when lots of restaurants opened up against orders and the state could not enforce the orders against all of them. The moment the public finally puts its foot down they'll realize the powers to be, have no power to enforce this against the public at large.

We almost had this issue in Washington state; however we had a petition to remove that requirement signed by many doctors saying it was a terrible idea to have our athletes race in a mask. The WIAA actually listened and removed that requirement.

I'm assuming the OP is from Santa Clara County because to my knowledge it's the only County in California requiring masks in races. This is not a state or athletic body rule but a rule from the County health department, and unfortunately those are in fact doctors.

All this "they're power hungry and it will never end" stuff is overwrought and dumb, but unfortunately the county health officer in Santa Clara County does seem to be particularly anti-sports. When California first opened up sports again a few weeks ago, she (and the department) initially announced that there would be no mixing of cohorts (teams) whatsoever in any sport, which effectively meant no competitions of any kind other than separate time trials. There was so much blow-back that they backed off and the new rules permit limited competitions but with masks at all times. That was different than even before February, when no competitions were allowed but the runners could remove masks during the actual running itself.

My guess is that these are the classic "nerd" doctors who can't imagine why sports are important to people and are in the camp of "even if there's 0.0000001% additional risk, it's not worth it for a dumb sport!" The mask requirement flies in the face of science and everything we know about the relative risks of covid transmission, but that's where they are.

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Washington Asst Coach wrote:
We almost had this issue in Washington state; however we had a petition to remove that requirement signed by many doctors saying it was a terrible idea to have our athletes race in a mask. The WIAA actually listened and removed that requirement.

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I train in a mask. I get plenty of air. As long as everybody wears one, everybody is equal.

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oldburgrunner wrote:
I train in a mask. I get plenty of air. As long as everybody wears one, everybody is equal.

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