CAPITAL FC COVID-19 POLICIES

Updated January 12, 2022

Capital FC follows guidelines from the CDC, Oregon Health Authority, and Oregon Youth Soccer.  The  club has formed a COVID19 Committee that helps apply these guidelines to common situations that are present at the club. 

The COVID19 Committee is made up of board members and Salem Area health professionals and is responsible for setting and reviewing policies related to COVID-19. If you have any questions about our policies, you may email the committee directly at covid@capitalfctimbers.com

QUICK LINKS:

Oregon Youth Soccer Association – COVID19 INFO

CDC – Guidelines for Quarantine and Isolation

CFC – Modifications to Travel Policy for COVID-19 Spikes

Participants must be healthy and free of symptoms in order to participate. 

All participants – coaches, players, volunteers, and staff – must be free of a cough and/or fever above 100 degrees symptoms for the last 24 hours and at least 5 days from any onset of symptoms. Anyone who is exhibiting these symptoms during training will be asked to leave.

Parents will be asked to sign a waiver on behalf of their child in order to participate that indicates their child is not sick or has had contact with someone with Covid19. A current waiver must be on file for participation. 

Parents are responsible for taking their child’s temperatures at home and monitoring their players for symptoms of any sickness. 

If a player is sick or exhibiting symptoms, they will not be allowed to participate. 

Face Masks and Face Coverings

Masks are not required for players or spectators on the fields.

IF THERE IS A CASE OR SUSPECTED CASE OF COVID19

Here is how our club will be prepared for a case of COVID19 within or connected to our club:

• Parents and staff should report to the club if any of the situations below happens:

1. The player or staff member has a fever

   1. The player or staff member is sick with symptoms of COVID19 but has not yet been tested or the test has not come back yet

   2. The player or staff member has tested positive for COVID19

   3. The player or staff member has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID19 without proper PPE

• Maintaining confidentiality is important. Families can:

1. Tell your coach or team manager, and they will refer to the “Return to Play Medical Committee”

2. Call the office at 503-673-6708.

3. Send an email to covid@capitalfctimbers.com which will reach “Return to Play Medical Committee” and maintain confidentiality

What if Someone Is Sick? 

1. Symptomatic Players, Spectators and Staff will not be allowed to participate

1. Players and families will not be allowed to be at the CFC complex if they have recently had an illness with fever or cough. They should stay home 5 days after onset of symptoms and 24 hours after resolution of both fever and cough.

Notifying Families

If a player tests positive for COVID19:

• The player is responsible for reporting this as soon as possible to the club. This information will be kept confidential between family and club.

• The player must follow protocols for self-isolation and will not be allowed to return for at least 5 days from onset of symptoms and 24 hours after resolution of symptoms in line with current CDC guidelines. See below for the latest CDC guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

• The club will consult and coordinate with the local public health authority regarding the case.

• The club will communicate to the team that a player from the team has tested positive for COVID19. The club will encourage others to monitor their players closely for symptoms and consult with local health authority about any other steps that may need to be taken including taking time off from practices, not participating in scrimmages or games, or any disinfecting procedures that should be done at the facility or with team equipment.

If a household member of a player (parent, sibling, etc) tests positive for COVID19 

• Or –

If a player has a known exposure to a confirmed COVID19 case:

• The player is responsible for reporting this as soon as possible to the club. This information will be kept confidential between family and club.

• The player must follow protocols for self-isolation and will not be allowed to return to training for a minimum of 5 days after their last date of exposure to a known case. This is in line with current CDC guidelines, which are posted below.

• The club will consult and coordinate with the local public health authority regarding the case.

• Per OHA guidelines, It is not required for the family or the club to share this information with the team. However, the club will encourage the family to allow the club to notify the team of the situation.

  • The club should receive this permission in written form (i.e. an email granting permission). This information should be communicated directly from coach or Director, not from team manager.

Coach responsibilities 

• Coaches are only responsible for reporting what they hear from families to Director of Coaching, Joe Wentworth.

• Coaches should keep the information they receive from families confidential. It is prohibited for coaches or staff to disclose the identity of families to anyone except for Joe, Collin, or the Return to Play Medical Committee.

• Coaches should not communicate with their families unless asked to by the club. If a coach is uncomfortable with communication, club may step in and communicate with the team on their behalf.

• Coaches should make sure team managers are not disclosing information as well.

• If coaches have any questions, ask!

TRAVEL DURING COVID19 PANDEMIC

The ongoing and ever-changing COVID19 pandemic creates challenges related especially to travel out of state, whether by bus or by air. Capital FC consults with the COVID19 Committee appointed by the Board of Directors to create and implement policies for the club to follow during the pandemic. Any questions about the club’s policies can be relayed directly to the committee via email at covid@capitalfctimbers.com 

1. DEFINING THE CLUB’S RESPONSIBILITY AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH FAMILY

• With any activity, participants take on inherent risk associated with these activities.

• The club intends to reasonably limit the risks associated with soccer and travel according to our capacity to do so, recognizing that we are not a professional organization and have limitations both in budget and capacity.

• It is the club’s responsibility to communicate the steps we are taking to limit the risks associated with COVID19, implement these policies, and continue to revise these as the situation evolves.

• It is the ultimately responsibility of each family to decide the level of risk they are comfortable with, as each family’s risk tolerance may be different for a variety of reasons.

1. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SOCCER AND TRAVEL

• As more information becomes available about COVID19, it is clear that the risk for outdoor transmission while playing soccer is quite low. The club’s policies on COVID are available on our website, and we continue in alignment with the guidance of the OHA and CDC.

• Risks associated with travel are higher, due to the amount of time players have inside during travel by car or by plane, as well as in rooms and eating together.

• The Omicron variant appears to be less severe but highly transmissible. Though the risk of getting COVID has increased, the committee agrees that most kids are not at risk for serious health concerns. There is more risk associated with spread to families or being ruled out of school or work due to isolation protocols after a travel trip.

1. POLICIES FOR COVID19 TRAVEL THAT ALWAYS APPLY

• Before the trip

  • The club encourages all staff, volunteers, and players to be vaccinated against COVID19

  • Players, staff, and chaperones must be healthy and free of symptoms in order to participate on a travel trip.

  • Players, staff, and chaperones must not have tested positive for COVID19 within the last 10 days before the trip, regardless of vaccination status.

  • Vaccinated players, staff, and chaperones must not have been exposed to someone with COVID19 within the last 10 days or have a negative COVID test after day 5 of exposure and be free of symptoms.

  • Unvaccinated players, staff, and chaperones must not have been exposed to someone with COVID19 within the last 10 days, regardless of negative COVID test results.

• During travel/transit

  • All staff, players and chaperones must wear a mask while driving inside vehicles and for the entire duration of any time inside airports and planes.

  • Teams should consider having the bus take short breaks of 10-15 minutes approximately every two hours, during which time the doors (and windows, if available) should remain open to ensure adequate air circulation.

  • Members of the Traveling Party must use their best efforts to practice social distancing (including with respect to other members of the Traveling Party), conduct frequent hand-washing and otherwise use best efforts to remain sanitized.

• At hotels

  • Players should wear masks when in the shared areas of the hotels. The club recognizes it will not be feasible to have players wear masks who are sharing rooms, but players should use their best efforts to practice social distancing when possible in all situations at the hotel.

• If a player develops symptoms during a trip:

  • The club will call the player’s family and immediately take steps to isolate the player and those players whom the player has been rooming with. These steps may include:

    • Sending the player home/having a parent pick up the player

    • Purchasing an additional hotel room for the player

1. OPTING OUT OF THE CFC TRAVEL POLICY

• Depending on the present COVID situation, the COVID committee and the programs committee may allow players to opt out of the CFC Elite Travel Policy for trips that involve ground transportation. This does not excuse the expectation for players to be at the games, but allows for flexibility on how the player and family will travel to accommodate their unique situation.

• Families will be made aware of the ability to opt out of the travel policy prior to the trip. The club must hear back in writing at least one week in advance in order to accommodate the opt-out situation. If less notice is given, the family may be responsible for additional expenses related to their share of the team’s travel expenses, as without enough notice shared expenses cannot be altered in time.

• The family will then be responsible for transportation of the players to all activities on the team agenda.

• Regardless of if the family opts out, the family will still be responsible for a portion of the travel expenses for the team that includes items such as coach/chaperone travel, team meals, etc.