Following coronavirus exposures at youth basketball tournaments in Hays and Wichita, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is asking people attending the tourneys to “exercise appropriate prevention measures.”
KDHE is investigating four clusters statewide connected to sports practices and tournaments, including an MAYB boys basketball tournament at the Wichita Sports Forum in Wichita and an MAYB girls basketball tournament at the Hays Recreation Commission in Hays. Both tournaments took place June 20-21. Two people tested positive for COVID-19 at both locations, and KDHE says people who attended the events may have been exposed to the virus.
KDHE has not specified the other two locations, but the agency’s guidance follows a statement from Lyon County Public Health that two Lyon County traveling girls basketball teams were exposed to a symptomatic patient that later was confirmed with coronavirus while participating in a tournament in Parkville, Missouri, on June 20.
“Sports settings by their very nature may pose a higher risk for spread of COVID-19,” says Health Secretary Lee Norman. “Sports have athletes breathing heavy from physical exertion and spreading respiratory droplets, close contact with other players, indoor spaces where it may be difficult for individuals to remain six feet apart and attendees who travel from outside the local area. Because of this, it is paramount that individuals choosing to participate or attend sporting events take precautions.”
KDHE says anyone who attended the Hays or Wichita tournaments in question should monitor themselves for 14 days — or until either July 4 or 5 — for symptoms including fever, cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss or taste or smell, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. People developing symptoms should call their healthcare provider and local health department.
