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Hillsboro, Oregon Little League

Hillsboro, Oregon Little League

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                                                                              Hillsboro Baseball Little League COVID-19 Return to Play Plan

The Hillsboro Little League Board of Directors is to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely, with the health and safety of our children being the first priority. The Board is aligned with the direction set by the Oregon State Governor, Washington County, the Center of Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Little League International.
This Plan is intended to be in specific conformance with Governor Brown’s “Phase 2 Reopening Guidance—Recreational Sports, Limited Return to play for Specified Sports” dated Nov 3, 2020 and will be updated when new guidelines are given or phases are achieved. This plan will be provided to every participant’s parents/guardians via email, and communicated through coaches to parents, guardians and players.
Advisory for Coaches, Participants and Parents/Guardians: 
Know the signs and symptoms of COVID-19: fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea.
Understand that COVID-19 is transmitted from one person to another—namely, through coughing, sneezing, talking, touching, or via objects touched by someone with the virus. 

General Requirements
 
Leagues and coaches are required to: 


Review and follow the Oregon General Guidance for Employers on COVID-19 and OHA Reopening Guidance for the Public. 
Prohibit coaches, players and other participants who have any COVID-19 like symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea) or contact with someone with confirmed COVID-19 exposure within the last 14 days from entering the premises or sporting location until cleared by a medical professional.
Coaches, players or other participants must self-report any symptoms and stay home.  
Anyone who contracts COVID 19 and has been at a HBLL event must immediately contact their manger/coach.  The manager/coach must then immediately contact the HBLL President ([email protected]).
All participants will be notified by email (contact tracing) if an individual who has been at a HBLL event contracts COVID 19 and appropriate steps will be announced.  
Any person, including players, at risk for severe illness or with serious underlying medical or respiratory conditions shall be discouraged from attending any league activities. If a player or other participant displays symptoms of COVID-19, a coach should ask them to leave the premises, provide the individual with a face covering, face shield or mask, and help the individual minimize their contact with others before leaving the facility. Immediately disinfect all areas used by the sick patron. 
Water fountains will be off limits or closed, except for those designed to refill water bottles without contact between the bottle and fountain. Players are encouraged to bring prefilled water bottles.
Participants should bring their own personal drinks to all team activities. Drinks should be labeled with the person’s name. Individuals should take their own drink containers home each night for cleaning and sanitation or use single-use bottles. There should be no use of shared or team beverages. Teams should not share any snacks or food. Players should bring individual, pre-packaged food, if needed. No sunflower seeds or gum.  
No spitting or horseplay.
Participants must wear a mask, face shield, or face covering, when not actively participating in the activity unless an accommodation for people with disabilities or other exemption applies. The face covering is meant to protect other people in case you are infected. People can spread COVID-19 to others even if they do not feel sick. 
Specifically, players, coaches and other participants on or near the bench or in the dugout are required to wear a mask. Players in the field or at bat are not required to wear a mask but will be permitted to wear a mask. Base coaches will not be required to wear a mask but must maintain physical distancing. 

Communicate all policies and facilities information to players/participants, parents, guardians, and caregivers prior to beginning the season.

Cleaning and Disinfection: 


Coaches or their designees are required to: 

Frequently clean and disinfect shared equipment. This includes, but not limited to, equipment such as bats, baseballs and catcher’s gear. Use disinfectants that are included on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved list for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. 
Mandate healthy hygiene for participants including washing hands frequently and covering sneezes and coughs. Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after touching shared objects or blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains 60-95% alcohol content. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they are dry. 
Players should bring their own hand sanitizer for personal use. HBLL will provide hand sanitizer as a backup.   
Frequently clean and disinfect high-traffic areas, and commonly touched surfaces in areas accessed by staff, players and spectators, including but not limited to benches and dugout areas. 
Ensure restrooms are cleaned and disinfected prior to and after any league activity. 

To the extent possible coaches should: 

Assign a designated volunteer monitor to make sure players/participants keep six (6) feet of physical distance, including at entrances, exits, restrooms and any other area where people may gather. 
Players should be assigned spots in the dugout with as much physical distance as possible.  Masks must be worn on the bench or in the dugout.  
Anyone who contracts COVID 19 and has been at a HBLL event must immediately contact their manger/coach.  The manager/coach must then immediately contact the HBLL President ([email protected])
To the extent HBLL is in control of restrooms, use a “one-in-one-out” policy, where only one individual is permitted within the restroom at one time.

Distance and Occupancy: 

Leagues, coaches and trainers are required to: 


Ensure compliance with the OHA Guidance for Gatherings for Phase 2.
Maintain, wherever possible, physical distancing of at least six (6) feet per person. A mask, face shield, or face covering should be used in addition to physical distancing. 
Limit the number of spectators (e.g. parents) admitted into the premises so that everyone can keep six (6) feet of physical distance. 
All spectators should follow best social distancing practices — stay six feet away from individuals outside their household; wear a cloth face covering at all times; avoid direct hand or other contact with players/managers/coaches during play.
Local Leagues may choose to minimize the exposure risk to spectators by limiting attendance to only essential volunteers and limited family members.
Spectators should bring their own seating or portable chairs when possible.
A spectator with any of the following conditions should not attend a practice or game until evaluated by a medical provider and given clearance to do so: 
Active COVID-19 infection
Known direct contact with an individual testing positive for COVID-19
Fever 
Cough
Those at higher risk for severe disease should consider consultation with their medical provider before attending a game and should ensure the strictest adherence to guidelines regarding face coverings, distancing, and handwashing. 
Everyone at the sports facility, including all players, coaches, volunteers, independent contractors, and spectators, are encouraged to keep physical distance of at least six (6) feet from individuals not residing within their household, especially in common areas. For situations when players are engaging in the sports activity.
Assign designated areas for managers and coaches, when not practicing/playing, to ensure physical distancing is maintained. 

Training and Playing: 

To the extent possible coaches should: 

Take steps so that there is only contact among participants/players needed to play the game. This includes refraining from handshakes, high fives, fist/elbow bumps, chest bumps and group celebrations. 
Space out player equipment to prevent players coming into direct contact with one another. 
Encourage players to use only their own equipment when feasible. Avoid or minimize equipment sharing, when feasible.
Players may not share baseball or batting gloves.  
Players may be allowed, but are not required to, bring their own regulation bats for their exclusive use.   
Some critical equipment may not be available to each player. When it is necessary to share critical or limited equipment such as bats or batting helmets, all surfaces of each piece of shared equipment must be cleaned and disinfected frequently, as appropriate for the sport (e.g. between innings, or, in the case of catcher’s equipment, when a new catcher enters the game). Use disinfectants that are included on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved list for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. No product will be labeled for COVID-19 yet, but many products will have a label or information available on their websites about their effectiveness for human coronavirus. 
Clean all equipment that directly contacts the head, face and hands with extra attention and detail. 
Players or their family members are encouraged to clean and disinfect equipment after each use, where feasible. 
Coaches, players, and designated safety personnel only are to attend practices to ensure physical distancing and prevent people from gathering.  Parents, siblings and other spectators must remain off the field and out of play and are encouraged to maintain social distancing.  
Schedule enough time between practices and games so all people from a previous practice or game can leave the premises before the next group enters. This minimizes gathering at entrances, exits and restrooms. 
Unless safe warmup areas have been designated, participants should wait in their vehicles while letting prior games or practices to end and while participants are leaving the field.    
Pre-game plate meetings at the plate or elsewhere are prohibited unless social distancing is maintained.  Any plate meeting should be limited to the umpire and one coach from each team. 
Umpires are permitted to be placed behind the pitcher’s mound/circle to call balls and strikes. Umpires are encouraged to keep a safe distance from players as much as possible. If physically able, umpires are encouraged to wear cloth face coverings while umpiring. 


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Hillsboro Baseball Little League
 
 Oregon  

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