Wayland High School athletics are back in business for the last two weeks of the regular winter season.

After being canceled by the school having to go to all on-line learning by Allegan County Health Department recommendation Friday, Supt. Dr. Christina Hinds announced Monday afternoon that permission has been granted to resume the seasons as long as athletes are rapid tested for the Coronavirus.

“Contact sports (basketball and wrestling) will begin rapid testing three times per week,” she wrote in her communication. “No-contact sports (bowling, swimming and cheer) will begin rapid testing on event days… All other safety protocols, such as face masks, physical distancing when able… will be strictly enforced.”

The announcement that Wayland High School would have to go virtual for two weeks came in the wake of disappointing numbers of Covid cases at the end of last week. The fact that it meant athletics would be shut down for two weeks resulted in many protests on social media.

Particularly of note was information that Wayland was in first place in the O-K Gold Conference basketball standings. Taking two weeks off would cost the Lady Wildcats a league championship.

Dr. Hinds continued, “There may be confusion about the ability to continue athletic and extracurricular activities without the ability to hold in-person classes. Due to the small group nature of our teams and the ability to conduct frequent rapids testing within these small groups, the ACHD(health department) supports proceeding with these activities. The transition to remote instruction is to disrupt the transmission occurring with in-person instruction. Without intervention, the building may have experienced a continued increase in Covid-19 cases at exponential rates.”

The cancellation of in-person learning for the next two weeks applies only to the high school, not the junior high nor any of the elementaries.

“We look forward to returning to in-person instruction on Monday, March 22, and are optimistic that this transition will have disrupted the spread of Covid-19 we have been experiencing at Wayland High School.”