Saturday afternoon the Illinois Department of Health announced Region 5 (Southern Illinois) has been moved to Tier 1 mitigations, effective immediately.

Effective immediately, Region 5 has met the COVID-19 health metrics to enter Tier 1 Mitigations. Learn more: https://t.co/wu7Svi25l7 pic.twitter.com/m7wrHh6iQe

— IDPH (@IDPH) January 16, 2021

Throughout the region the big win is indoor dining returns.  But the news also means high school athletics are effected.

Just a day removed from the region dropping from Tier 3 to Tier 2 mitigations the region once again faces new allowances to sports at different risk levels.

Lower-risk sports, like bowling, cheer, dance, gymnastics, and swimming & diving may enter Level 4 of IDPH’s Sports Safety Guidelines which allows tournaments, out-of-conference/league play, out-of-state play, and championship games/meets are allowed.

Medium-risk sports move to Level 3 which allow intra-conference and intra-region play.  There are no active medium-risk sports however girls’ volleyball and boys’ soccer are currently set to begin in mid-February with contests beginning in early March.

High-risk sports, like basketball, move to Level 2 which allow intra-squad scrimmages but no competitive play is allowed.

The Illinois High School Association is set to meet for a special meeting on Wednesday January 27th to put together and distribute a new scheduling format for the rest of the school year, according to reports.

Area school districts were themselves already planning to meet this week to begin deciding how they would move forward after moving to Tier 2.