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IDPH says all high school sports will be allowed to play in Phase 4, including basketballMichael O’Brienon January 22, 2021 at 6:38 pm

Morgan Park’s Marcus Watson, Jr., (22) shoots against Tinley Park. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said on Friday that all regions in Illinois that reach Phase 4 of COVID mitigations can play high school basketball.

The full guidelines from IDPH have not been revealed yet, but it appears that conference and intra-region basketball games will be allowed soon.

The Illinois High School Association met with representatives from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office on Friday morning. IHSA spokesperson Matt Troha said the IHSA will release a statement as soon as possible. It’s unknown if the IHSA will start the basketball season immediately, which is what the current schedule says, or if basketball will be pushed back to spring. Football is currently scheduled to start on Feb. 15.

Currently, Region 3 (Southwest Illinois), Region 5 (Southern Illinois) and Region 6 (East Central Illinois) are all in Phase 4. Chicago and Cook County will move to Tier 1 on Saturday, that is one step away from Phase 4.

In order for regions to rollback to Phase 4 three things are required:

-Test positivity rate below 6.5% for 3 consecutive days (7-day average).

-Staffed hospital and ICU beds availability greater than 20% for 3 consecutive days (3-day average).

-No sustained increase in COVID patients in hospital (7-day average over 7 of 10 days).

In late October Pritzker said that winter high school sports, including basketball, would be “moved into spring.” That statement came just two days after Pritzker announced they were “on hold.”

The IHSA revised its sports calendar for this school year after football and other fall sports were delayed by Pritzker in late July. The new calendar moved several fall sports to the spring season and added a new summer season. The IHSA is expected to amend or totally redo that schedule at a meeting next week.

Illinois had awarded a state championship in boys high school basketball every year since 1908. That streak came to an end last March because of coronavirus. The IHSA canceled the entire boys state tournament on March 12 and no games have been held since then.

Lower and medium-risk high school sports are being allowed at various levels of play across the state. Badminton, swimming, competitive cheerleading and competitive dance teams are allowed to practice and compete. The IHSA’s possible schedule change may soon allow soccer and volleyball teams to begin practicing or competing as well.