Los Angeles County will allow all outdoor recreational sports this Friday, with COVID-19 restrictions in place.

The new regulations will apply to all recreational youth and adult leagues, school sports, city leagues and private sport leagues. An area that this specific order does not extend to is professional or college sports, which have had to abide by a separate set of COVID-19 protocols.

Los Angeles County Public Health made the announcement  on Wednesday after California set the threshold for reopening sports at 14 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in a county. As of Wednesday, L.A. County’s adjusted case rate is 12.8 per 100,000 residents, meeting the threshold to resume sports activities.

“As of Friday, updated State guidance allows for all outdoor youth and adult recreational sports, including moderate contact and high contact sports, to resume practice, training and competitions in counties where the case rate is at or below 14 cases per 100,000 population,” Public Health said in a news release Wednesday. ” Since L.A. County’s adjusted case rate is now at 12.3 cases per 100,000, county protocols are being revised to align with the new State guidance.”

Among the moderate and high-contact sports that may resume are baseball, field hockey, softball, volleyball, football, basketball, rugby, soccer, and water polo.

The regulations are not limited to game competition, as practices and training sessions will also be allowed.

Youth leagues that would like to resume must have consent forms signed by the athlete’s parents or guardians, acknowledging that they understand the risks of playing.

The county’s order also noted the new guidance does not apply to community races such as marathons and road races.

As of Wednesday, 136 new single-day deaths and 2,157 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded by L.A. County Public Health, while 2,064 people were in hospitals due to the virus.

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