BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

CANTON -- A handful of high school athletes, a parent and a coach spoke out during Monday night’s St. Lawrence County legislature meeting to call for high-risk winter sports to return.

Despite approval from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the 24 school districts that make up Section X have opted not to move forward immediately with high-risk winter sports.

The Board of Legislators and St. Lawrence County Public Health didn’t make the decision to shutdown high-risk sports, but some of the speakers implored school superintendents to reconsider their respective decisions to not allow them.

“The school districts that comprise Section X are asking our athletes, parents, and community for patience as we work on the required plans and assess Public Health guidance to make a potential season as safe as possible. The safety of our athletes is our number one concern as we continue to navigate this public health crisis. We will continue to work with our partners in public health to determine the best course of action moving forward,” a recent news release from St. Lawrence-Lewis County BOCES said.

The students who spoke in front of the county legislature argued that there is a pandemic-induced mental health crisis among local youth, and for those who play them, sports could be the remedy.

“We as students don’t have anything to look forward to,” said Brooke Laraby, a Canton varsity athlete. “They need it to get out of depression on their end.”

She added that she’s appreciative of county public health officials working with school districts to come up with safety plans.

“Currently mental health is awful, due to no sports,” said Caleb D’Arienzo of Massena, a varsity hockey player. “Sports are the only reason some of us go to school. It’s like every day is the same day on repeat.”

“The people who decide the fate of athletics are aware of this” correlation, said Trent Sargent, an Ogdensburg athlete.

Sargent also argued that “unstructured time kids have on their hands” with no mask or hygiene requirements could lead to COVID-19 outbreaks. He said some local players are “setting up their own games with no masks or sanitary protocols.”

Michael Trimboli of Massena, the high school varsity hockey coach there, said the players and coaches are willing to follow stringent safety measures. That includes wearing new masks specifically designed for sports.

He also argued that hockey rinks, like those in several St. Lawrence County communities, have air circulation and ventilation systems designed to deal with the exhaust fumes that come from the Zamboni, a machine that resurfaces the ice before games and between periods.

During his regular COVID-19 update, Dr. Andrew Williams, president of the St. Lawrence County Board of Health, pointed out that with some sports, it just isn’t possible to be COVID-safe.

“Full disclosure: I was a varsity wrestler, I’ve been involved with coaching wrestlers, I have wrestlers in my household ... you can’t physically distance in that sport,” he said, calling wrestling “extremely challenging” from a public health standpoint.

“That’s why they’re characterized as higher risk,” he said. “The farther they can distance, the better, especially if they’re in an enclosed space with inadequate circulation or ventilation.”

Dr. Dana McGuire, St. Lawrence County Public Health director, said she’s aware of “a number of studies that look at sports and what transmission of the virus can do.

One by the CDC looked at a COVID-19 cluster connected to a hockey game. The other looked at a cluster that originated from a wrestling tournament.

“Five days after a (hockey) game ... there were 15 of the 22 players that did experience symptoms,” she said, adding that comprised 14 players and a rink staffer. She believes ice hockey arenas are ripe for the spread of COVID-19 “due to exertion and breathing, and often times the players are closer than six feet.”

She said the wrestling tournament led to 38 positive COVID-19 tests.

“From those 38 cases, there were over 400 contacts that were identified. 62 of those were household member. Just over 400 of them were school contacts,” she said. That led to 41 more positive cases and a death, she said.

Trimboli blasted the public health director’s information as “speculation,” and said health experts working for USA Hockey believe that the sport can be played safely.

“Investigators speculated the indoor space and close contact increased the rate of infection ... It’s not known if infections happened at the rink,” the coach said, adding that he had brought documents he was willing to share with the lawmakers.

Even if the paused sports go on, there are logistical challenges.

As of Monday, Feb. 1, 11 of the 24 Section X districts are fully remote due to COVID-19 cases. Also, 747 students and staff members are quarantined.

Dr. McGuire pointed out that any district that goes remote because of COVID-19 cannot participate in sports. And any students who are in isolation or quarantine cannot participate.

According to information on the forward.ny.gov COVID-19 dashboard posted Monday, Feb. 1, the seven-county North Country region, which includes St. Lawrence County and Section X schools, has the third-highest seven-day positivity rate in the state at 5.7%. In St. Lawrence County alone, the seven-day average is the second lowest in the region at 4.1%. Statewide, the same figure is 5.1%.

On Jan. 31, the North Country had the highest one-day percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in the entire state at 7%. In St. Lawrence County, that same figure is 8.7%, the second highest in the North Country region. The statewide rate for the same day is 4.9%.

Earlier on Monday, St. Lawrence County Public Health’s daily COVID-19 update revealed yet another fatality from the disease, which has now claimed 67 lives in the county. They also reported 36 new cases that day and 922 total active cases, 32 of which are hospitalized.