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The PIAA Board of Directors voted 30-1 Wednesday to comply with the Department of Health&rsquo;s decision that all student-athletes should wear masks because of COVID-19 whether they are active participants or not but added it will instruct its member schools to consult with their individual school solicitor to see if they comply with any exceptions to the rule.
				District 7 representative Michael Allison cast the only negative vote. District 7 has three members on the board.
				&ldquo;From what the board said today, it&rsquo;s to be an individual assessment by a local school so they can make their own determination,&rdquo; PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi said. &ldquo;But our sports medicine committee was very concerned just because of pre-existing exercise-induced asthma conditions, or possibly getting good breathing oxygenation while participating as well as the retainment of (carbon dioxide).
				&ldquo;And there&rsquo;s always the possibility if it&rsquo;s inside where a mask comes off, someone can step on it and slip. So there are concerns there.&rdquo;
				Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced Tuesday that masks must be worn by high school athletes among other citizens under various circumstances, although there are some exceptions, as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to climb.
				Lombardi said the PIAA reached out to Gov. Tom Wolf&rsquo;s office for clarification but received no response. He added participants in this weekend&rsquo;s state championship games in girls volleyball, soccer and field hockey and state semifinal games in football will wear masks unless their schools decide otherwise.
				Wyoming Seminary field hockey is the lone Wyoming Valley Conference team still playing. The Blue Knights are scheduled to face Greenwood for the PIAA Class A title at 10 a.m. Saturday at Whitehall High School.
				&ldquo;The one section says &#8230; if wearing a mask creates an unsafe condition,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;Maybe the school solicitor can take a look at that. They can also look at the health condition of an individual athlete. &#8230; So we could see kids on an individual team, some students wearing them and some maybe not.
				&ldquo;But the board felt this assessment should be done by each individual school because they not only have their own health and safety plans, they know the condition of their students by virtue of their completion of the (PIAA health) forms to play athletics.&rdquo;
				Masks are a concern as the PIAA heads into the winter sports of basketball, wrestling and especially swimming.
				&ldquo;I think we got a serious issue when it comes to swimming,&rdquo; PIAA associate executive director Melissa Mertz said. &ldquo;That is something, as Bob mentioned, we&rsquo;re going to push for some clarification. I&rsquo;m not sure that all of the sports were thought out when that was put in there.
				&ldquo;So it&rsquo;s definitely something we have to get some clarification on because when you&rsquo;re talking about a swimmer turning their head and grabbing air, some oxygen, in the pool we could have some serious medical complication if we don&rsquo;t have some kind of exemption for swimming.&rdquo;
				The PIAA is also encouraging winter sports to begin their practices as scheduled starting Friday. Fifteen practices are required before playing a game. Games can start Dec. 11 for teams which conduct 15 practices by that date.
				Locally, MMI Prep has already said it won&rsquo;t be playing winter sports. Wyoming Area has suspended them until Dec. 1. Carbondale didn&rsquo;t participate in fall sports but will play winter sports. Abington Heights didn&rsquo;t participate in fall sports it considered high risk for COVID-19 and hasn&rsquo;t made an official decision on winter sports, but indications are the school will participate.
				&ldquo;I think all our schools did a terrific jobs in the fall and they all need to be complimented that we&rsquo;re as far as we are,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re 10 days away from completing a fall season. We&rsquo;re very, very proud of that because I think many of our schools were concerned about even starting in August.&rdquo;
				The board&rsquo;s next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 9.
				Here are some other items addressed.
				&#8226; The times and dates for the football championship games have been set, but the schedule could be altered to accommodate teams with long road trips. All games will be at Hersheypark Stadium.
				The schedule for Friday, Nov. 27, will be: Class A, 11 a.m.; Class 3A, 3:30 p.m.; Class 5A, 8 p.m.
				The schedule for Saturday, Nov. 28, will be: Class 2A, 11 a.m.; Class 4A, 3:30 p.m.; Class 6A, 8 p.m.
				Lombardi was asked if the site for a game involving two teams in close proximity to each other could be moved to prevent long road trips for both. He said that won&rsquo;t happen because the PIAA has contractual obligations with Hershey as well as television. He also added no concessions will be available and the championship games.
				&#8226; By a 26-3 vote, the board defeated a proposal that a team must have three consecutive days of practices before playing a game if there is a temporary school closure or a labor dispute lasting more than three days.
				The temporary school closure portion was added to the bylaw with COVID-19 in mind, although that wasn&rsquo;t mentioned specifically. However, a few board members voiced their concern that inclement winter weather could also cause a school to close for more than three days and schools would have to follow the rule.
				There was also the issue of some leagues and conferences already deciding to push back the start dates for winter sports, and any other stoppages could limit the total number of games.
				The board asked the PIAA staff to come back with different wording to the proposal in time for the December meeting.
				&#8226; Swimming will have the option of holding virtual meets where each team swims at its own pool and then times are compared to determine the final score. Each team would be monitored by swim officials.
				&#8226; The wrestling steering committee presented the board with several recommendations, including limiting tournaments to one day and keeping brackets to a maximum of eight wrestlers.
				Others recommendations included weigh-ins be conducted by team rather than weight class; limit teams or weight classes to specific mats; and hold an intermission during dual meets or tournament to allow for cleaning and sanitation.
				&#8226; The winter state championships could be conducted similar to the fall where only district champions advanced in team sports. Lombardi said a decision wasn&rsquo;t imminent.

PIAA says schools will decide whether athletes need to wear masks