ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OUTLINES FACILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-PROFESSIONAL, NON-COLLEGIATE SPORTS EVENTS

Modified: February 27, 2021 2:29pm

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02/27/2021

This release includes significant revisions and additions from the version from February 26.

Please note: ECDOH will hold a webinar for interested coaches, league staff and facility managers to answer questions about this announcement and NY Forward guidance. Please contact (716) 858-7690. For general COVID-19 questions, call the COVID-19 Information Line at (716) 858-2929. For facility-specific questions, call the Division of Environmental Health at (716) 961-6800.

ECDOH apologies for the inaccuracies in the February 26 version of this release.


ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OUTLINES FACILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-PROFESSIONAL, NON-COLLEGIATE SPORTS EVENTS

Diagnostic COVID-19 testing and notice to ECDOH staff included in guidance  

ERIE COUNTY, NY – The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) and its Division of Environmental Health are providing the following information for non-professional, non-collegiate sports tournaments.

The following requirements apply to non-professional, non-collegiate sports tournaments that include teams that travel from outside the Western New York (WNY) or Finger Lakes regions to Erie County. A tournament involves four or more teams playing multiple games or competitions at the same facility. The WNY region includes Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Allegany counties. The Finger Lakes region includes Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates counties. This guidance does not apply to tournaments where all participating teams are from either the WNY or Finger Lakes regions.

For all sports tournaments, including those listed under low-, medium- and high-risk sports in the NY Forward Sports and Recreation guidance, any players/competitors and coaches from outside the WNY or Finger Lakes regions are required to have a negative diagnostic PCR COVID-19 test collected within 72 hours of the tournament. For teams within the WNY or Finger Lakes regions, there are no diagnostic testing requirements.

Facility management or the event organizer is responsible for verifying that teams comply with this testing requirement. Any team/group with a positive player/competitor or coach cannot play during the sport event. All teams/groups are required to take the appropriate actions regarding a COVID-19 positive player/competitor, including contacting local health departments to discuss quarantine and isolation requirements.

Also, sports facilities must use the ECDOH Large Gathering Event Notification Form (www.erie.gov/health/eventnotice) to provide tournament information to ECDOH for review at least five days prior to the planned event. Per NY Forward Sports and Recreation guidance, facility capacity cannot exceed 50% for any event.

These requirements take effect March 5, 2021.

ECDOH will hold a webinar for interested coaches, league staff and facility managers to answer questions about this announcement and NY Forward guidance. Please contact (716) 858-7690. For general COVID-19 questions, call the COVID-19 Information Line at (716) 858-2929. For facility-specific questions, call the Division of Environmental Health at (716) 961-6800.