Muriel Bowser, D.C. mayor, bans high-contact sports amid COVID-19 case hike

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday prohibited high-contact sports in the city amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

The new rule applies to basketball, boxing, football, hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, rugby, soccer and wrestling. Professional and university athletics are exempt.

Residents can exercise individually or engage in “casual, non-league, non-high-contact games and activities” on fields regulated by the Department of Parks and Recreation, so long as social distancing can be maintained.

Moreover, high school extracurricular sports and competitions are suspended for all schools citywide including public, charter, private and parochial schools.

Sports clubs and recreation centers also are required to halt all physical sports and organized athletic activities for high schoolers.

The new restrictions are “due to unsupervised interactions that are happening before and after activities with older students,” the mayor said.

Middle school-aged and younger children can still participate in organized drills and clinics for high-contact sports but with new rules. Athletes must be in a group that does not exceed 12 people, and the activities must not “involve actual physical contact with one another.”

Physical education classes for all grades must not allow students to be within 6 feet of each other.

The news comes the same day Maryland is allowing high school sports practices to begin again. The state’s largest school district in Montgomery County, however, is pausing practices amid a hike in cases.

As of Monday, D.C. health officials reported 183 new COVID-19 cases in the District, bringing the total to 23,319, as well as four additional deaths, raising the total to 701. On Saturday, the District reported 392 daily new cases, which is the highest number since the pandemic began. D.C. has more than 705,000 residents, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The seven-day average daily case rate per 100,000 people is 34.3, and the mean turnaround time for tests is 3.3 days, both of which have been in the “red” zone of reopening phases for more than two weeks.