West Nile Virus threat forces rescheduling of high school sports in Chicopee, Belchertown

CHICOPEE - Concerns with West Nile Virus in Chicopee and Belchertown, two Western Massachusetts communities listed under the state?s critical threat warning, have prompted the high schools in each community to reschedule all evening outdoor sports to lessen contact with the mosquitoes that spread the virus.

Officials with Chicopee and Belchertown public schools said Friday night that effective immediately all evening sports played outdoors - primarily soccer and football - will have to be rescheduled to earlier in the day for the remainder of the fall.

The move affects Chicopee High School, Chicopee Comprehensive High School, and Belchertown High School.

The football and soccer teams for each school typically schedule games for after 5:30 p.m., which places players, coaches, referees and spectators outside during periods of prime mosquito activity.

Mosquitoes are most active from dusk to dawn.

Bissonnette on Friday posted on his Facebook page that the city Parks Department will be asking all private sports organizations that play games in Chicopee to consider rescheduling to minimize player exposure.

The state Department of Public Health has declared Chicopee and Belchertown have a threat-level of critical for West Nile Virus following confirmed cases in each locality recently.

In Chicopee, a 69-year-old man was found to have West Nile Virus in late August. At last report he was making a full recovery.

In Belchertown, a 21-year-old horse was found to be infected with the virus and had to be euthanized.

The state DPH has elevated threat level for the rest of the state to moderate.

There have been nine cases involving humans and one fatality across Massachusetts. A 69-year-old Worcester man with underlying health issues who was diagnosed with the virus last month recently died, according to DPH officials.

West Nile is a mosquito-carried virus that can cause illness ranging from a mild fever to more serious disease like encephalitis or meningitis. People older than 50 are considered at high risk of developing severe illness.

The state recommends several precautions for avoiding exposure to mosquitoes, but one of the leading ones is to avoid being outside for prolonged periods from dusk to dawn.

And that, said Chicopee Athletic Director James Blain, puts his school athletic schedule at conflict with the state guidelines.

Or at least it did until Friday afternoon when it was decided to change the sports schedule.

He said he met Friday with Mayor Michael Bissonnette and members of the Health Department to discuss the critical threat level and ways to avoid exposure.

?The decision was that we are not going to play sports at the period of peak mosquito activity,? he said.

The move affects only home games in Chicopee and road games to Belchertown, he said.

If Chicopee has road games scheduled in any other community not considered critical, say Westfield or Northampton, they would go on as scheduled, he said.

The change in place until the state Board of Health lifts the critical alert, but realistically it will be in place for the rest of the fall, he said.

Belchertown Athletic Director Robert Marchewka confirmed Belchertown schools will reschedule night games for the rest of the fall in keeping with guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

It affects soccer and football only. The only other evening sport, volleyball, is played indoors, he said.

He referred all other inquiries to Superintendent of Schools Judith Houle.

Blain said the move immediately affects football and soccer, but it could also impact other outdoor sports, he said. As sunset gets earlier and earlier each day, other sports and practices that start earlier in the afternoon could spill over into the prime mosquito time, he said.

?Nothing like this has ever happened before,? he said.

Games have been canceled previous because of bad weather, but never because of mosquitoes and a potential health hazard.

Blain, who is responsible for athletic programs at the two schools, said ?We?re going week by week.?

Rescheduling the games to more suitable times will be a logistical nightmare but it has to be done, he said. ?I?ve got Monday and Tuesday covered. How?s that sound??

Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/west_nile_virus_threat_forces.html

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