The NSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee met via Zoom on April 2, 2020. One of the primary discussion points was the annual requirement for all athletes to have a PPE on file prior to the start of their respective regular season practice.
Health care providers in the state are experiencing changing demands to deal with COVID-19. These changes are causing them to postpone most, if not all, non-essential wellness and maintenance visits. Most of them are planning these changes to last until July.
During this committee discussion, it became clear that the health care system in Nebraska will not have the capacity to meet the requirements in place by the NSAA for all athletes to have these PPEs administered in the timeline that starts no earlier than May 1.
The NSAA SMAC unanimously recommended to the NSAA board that PPEs for the 2019-2020 school year be acceptable for the 2020-2021 seasons. This recommendation would be for a one-year exemption only and would not include incoming freshmen. They continue to recommend that students visit their primary care providers for the PPE.
The NSAA board, legal counsel and insurance providers have determined that this recommendation was acceptable and will put the matter on the next NSAA board meeting agenda as an action item.
Therefore, any member school that has a current PPE for their student athletes on file for 2019-2020, those will now be valid for the 2020-2021 school year. All incoming freshmen would still be required to provide the school with the PPE paperwork that is dated no earlier than May 1, 2020.
Follow up email from NSAA below:
As a follow up to the information that we sent out this past week about the Pre-Participation Physical Exams (PPE), I have received several emails asking for clarification regarding 7th & 8th grade PPEs. So, I wanted to make sure that everyone was receiving the same response.
The requirement for students entering the7th grade to have a physical exam is Nebraska state education law and we do not have the ability to waive that requirement. However, the physicals that the current 7th graders have for the 2019-2020 school year can be used for NSAA purposes for the 2020-2021 school year.
After discussions with legal counsel and our insurance provider, due to our catastrophic insurance requirements, all current 8th grade students that are going to enter the 9th grade in 2020, will STILL be required to get a PPE for the 2020-2021 school year. All other high school students entering grades 10, 11 & 12 grades that have a the PPE paperwork for 2019-2020 school year, can use that physical for the 2020-2021 school year.