On January 17, 2022, Fox 8 Cleveland released an article online called “CDC says schools should cancel sports, band in areas with high covid”. The article brings light to CDC recommendations for schools and whether they should continue “high-risk activities”.

The CDC says it recommends that any students that participate in activities that require shouting or vigorous exercise should be tested 24 hours before. However, the CDC advises that events held in areas with “high transmission” should be moved virtually or canceled unless everyone participating is fully vaccinated.The story continues to state high transmission sports like hockey, basketball, football, and now band are examples of these events. CDC states that band has become high risk due to the “increased exhalation”.

While Lakes continues the sports programs, other schools like Oak Park-River Forest High School have canceled all extracurricular sports and activities for the rest of the semester. A recent protest was held by the students in which they gathered in front of the school on a weekend wearing their respective sports clothing. Unfortunately for the students, the protest did not change the decision made by the board. Superintendent Greg Johnson spoke about the decision and acknowledged that “extracurricular activities are extremely important to our students’ well being”. Due to this decision, parents are arguing about the mental health problems this can cause for their children. One parent carried a sign at the protest stating “teen mental health issues are an epidemic too”. Johnson stated that “we would need to see a high level of compliance…before we can determine whether we can safely resume activities”.

Currently at Lakes, we continue our sports and activities with no interruption. Unfortunately for Oak Park-River Forest High School, they have been hit with a large amount of COVID cases with their massive school size of 3,400 students, leading the school board to cancel sports and extracurriculars.