COVID-19 Guidlines

Arlington Travel Baseball

Guidelines for Baseball Activities in Spring 2022

General Principles

• Consistent with Virginia and Arlington County guidance, baseball can be played safely with an acceptable level of risk.
• Like all activities outside the home, engaging in baseball activities will increase risk of exposure to COVID-19.  All participants in ATB activities need to understand that we cannot create a risk-free environment. 
• The strategies outlined below have been derived from review of various publications on the return of youth sports generally and baseball in particular. They are intended to reduce the risk to players, families and coaches that baseball activities will expose them to COVID-19. 
• Our success, and continued ability to play, depends on families’ compliance to these rules and their willingness to work flexibly with ATB as we move forward. 
• The ATB Board's focus will always be on promoting baseball activities in a way that protects the health of our families and coaches, while preserving the spirit of the game we all love.  

Prerequisites to Participation in ATB Activities

• All ATB participants (coaches and players) shall complete a pre activity health screening. Families shall use TeamSnap's “My Health Check” feature. Failure to complete the questionnaire will result in the participant being prohibited in engaging in the scheduled ATB activity.
• Any individual – player, family member, coach, or umpire – who has symptoms of illness the CDC has recognized as consistent with COVID-19, including fever, cough or difficulty breathing, chills, muscle pain, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell, shall not participate in ATB activities.  
• Any individual - player, family member or coach - who tests positive for COVID-19 shall not participate in any ATB activity until 5-days after the positive test.  After returning to activity, those individuals shall wear a mask until 10 days after their positive test.
• Any vaccinated individual – player, family member, coach – who has been exposed to another person who has tested positive for COVID-19 may participate in ATB activities.  Vaccinated and exposed individuals shall wear their masks at ATB activities, regardless of location, for 10 days after exposure.
• Any unvaccinated individual – player, family member, coach – who has been exposed to another person who has tested positive for COVID-19 shall not participate in any ATB activity for 5 days from the date of exposure. Unvaccinated individuals may resume participation 5 days after exposure, but must wear a mask until 10th day after exposure.

Exposure defined: within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

Practices & Games: 

• Players and coaches shall have their masks with them at all times.
• If practice is indoors, players and coaches may wear masks.
• Parents are not permitted on the field or the indoor training space.  We will schedule coaches so that at least two ATB coaches attend every practice.  If a coach needs support from a parent for practice, the supporting parents shall be identified by the coach.  
• Players and coaches will wash hands or use the sanitizer before practice begins, between each drill, before drinking/eating, and at the end of practice.  Players should have their own bottles of sanitizer for their personal use.
• Each player shall have their own water bottle, helmet, bats, gloves, and other equipment.  Do not share water bottles.  Don't spit, eat sunflower seeds or chew gum.