Some Sports Are Allowed to Play During The Pandemic

 By Caroline Surrette 

Playing, watching, and coaching high school soccer this season comes with risks and new rules, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Woburn Memorial High School girls’ varsity soccer team’s 2020 season might be postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic and teams in the Middlesex League cancelled sports this fall season.  

Last week the team celebrated the senior players on their senior day. 

Senior captain of the WMHS team, Bridget Guiendon, said she wants to make the best of the season while she can.  

“The seniors have been playing soccer their whole lives and now they don’t get the season they truly deserve. It’s devastating for the players and their families watching them, “ coach of WMHS team, Trinity Fuller said.

Guiendon said the season kept getting delayed. She said not being able to practice as a team was frustrating.

Assistant coach and former collegiate player, Megan Crowith, said the preseason, which was cancelled, is important, because the players get to know one another.

“If they don’t get along off the field, it makes it that much harder for them to get along on the field,” Fuller agreed.    

Guiendon said despite not having a preseason they are making their team dynamic work.

Sophomore forward, Anna Casey, said her teammates are excited to start playing again.

Players must wear masks and social distance during practices and games.  The Massachusetts Interscholastic Association of Athletics Covid-19 Task force had to change rules for the 2020 soccer season to start.

The MIAA board voted to delay the start of the fall season until September 14. 

“Everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to play,” Casey said.

Guiendon and Casey said it is difficult running with a mask on.

“Wearing the mask was tough for them at first but we’re trying to make the best of it. I think we are doing a good job with it so far,” Fuller said.

Guiendon said coaches and spectators must wear masks and the athletic directors and coaches are responsible for holding their fans and players accountable.

Coaches must ensure social distancing is maintained between players constantly, according to the MIAA rule book. Casey said prior to contact at games and practices, all players must complete a survey and take their temperatures.

Guiendon said the teams are only allowed to practice together three times a week. She said they practice Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

“On Mondays we do conditioning drills. Thursdays we always scrimmage. Fridays we prepare for our games because our games are always on Saturdays,” Guiendon said.

“Drawing up drills can be difficult, there’s more factors that I have to consider because we are playing during a pandemic, but the girls do a good job following the rules that were put in place,” Fuller said.   

Guiendon said the referees and coaches in the league do a good job of enforcing the rules during games. 

“I think everyone wants to play so everyone’s following the rules. We all want to get through the season,” said Guiendon.    

Guiendon said one team in their league does not follow the rules.

Casey said there is a reason the rules were put in place and it’s frustrating to see other teams breaking them.

“I would hate to see their season get taken away from them because some people can’t follow the rules,” Crowith agreed.

The Boston Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released a statement that said, “If we can do sports, we'd certainly like to, but only if we feel like it can be done in a safe way. We may have to modify sports."

Casey said one new rule is if a player intentionally heads the ball it is a foul.

The MIAA modified the rules for the 2020-2021 soccer season. 

“There’s a foul called ‘the Covid foul,’ they call it when we get too close to a player on the opposing team,” Guiendon said.

Fuller said the goalie’s punts and goal kicks are not allowed to go past the half and corner kicks are now indirect kicks.

“It changes the dynamic of the game, it forces us to do a lot quicker and shorter on the ground passes,” Fuller said.  

Guiendon said they are no longer allowed to throw the ball in for throw ins, they must kick it in on the ground.

“We have to wait for the refs to blow the whistle to let us throw the ball in, before we could just grab the ball and throw it in. The game is more paced now,” Guiendon said.

Fuller said they also took away timeouts, which makes subbing and managing the game difficult.

“When I see the girls start to get sloppy and tired it’s hard to get them to regroup and start playing like a team again without a timeout. I have to make my message more direct between the quarters,” Fuller said.

The MIAA rule book states that there will be no timeouts allowed and the games will be played in four quarters with a half time after two quarters.

Guiendon said the quarters give players a mask break. She said between quarters they get two minutes to rest and ten minutes at the half.

“The refs are very strict about us keeping our masks on at all times, they threaten to throw us out of the game if your mask slips under our nose,” Casey said.

Fuller said the state is trying to keep everyone safe which includes the coaches, players, spectators, and refs.  

Guiendon said each player on her team was given one lanyard to give to a person of their choice. She said to watch the game spectators must wear the lanyard and those who don’t have one must watch form their cars or stand outside a fence far from the field.

Crowith said the league cancelled one of their games because Woburn had too many cases of Covid in the city.

“Our school didn’t have any cases at the time, our city had too many, so Reading said they didn’t want to play us,” Casey said.    

Guiendon said Woburn’s athletic director reached out and asked Reading if the players could play without spectators. She said the Reading athletic director said no because Woburn was a red zone.  

“It’s frustrating that we won’t get to make any of the games up that get cancelled, but it’s understandable. We will just have to capitalize in the games we do play,” Fuller said. 

Since the school year started there were 129 cases of Covid among students in Massachusetts, reported the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  Two of those cases were Woburn students, according to the DESE.      

The most players allowed on a varsity high school team in Massachusetts is 30, making it possible for athletes to encounter 120 other players in the Middlesex League according to Mass Soccer.  

Guiendon said no players in their league has had Covid-19.

Fuller said there are a lot of people in their county and they are trying their best to keep everyone healthy and give the athletes a good season.

“Our priority is to keep the players safe. I hope we can get through the season and give our seniors a senior day they will remember and enjoy,” Crowith said.

 

 

 A post game interview with senior captain Bridget Guiendon. 

Sources

Cohan, Alexi. “202 New Cases of Coronavirus Reported in Massachusetts Schools.” Boston Herald, Boston Herald, 22 Oct. 2020, www.bostonherald.com/2020/10/22/202-new-cases-of-coronavirus-reported-in-massachusetts-schools/.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Positive COVID-19 Cases in Schools.” Coronavirus/COVID-19: Positive COVID-19 Cases in Schools, 2020, www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/positive-cases/.

MIAA. “Rule Modifications and Guidelines.” Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association , 2020, www.miaa.net/gen/miaa_generated_bin/documents/basic_module/SoccerModificationsFall2020.pdf.

Reports, Staff. “MIAA Votes to Delay Start of Fall Sports Season to Sept. 14.” NBC Boston, NBC10 Boston, 21 July 2020, www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/miaa-considers-coronavirus-guidelines-for-school-sports/2163022/.  

“Rules and Overview.” Massachusetts Adult Soccer, www.mass-soccer.org/page/show/3238552-rules-and-overview.

New England Restaurant Scene Changing Due to Covid

By Dion Kourafalos

    Restaurant workers and locals alike say that the restaurant experience in the New England area has changed drastically due to Covid.

Some restaurants have been forced to shut down for good, while others have had to significantly alter the way they do business.

According to a recent study from the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, 20% of Massachusetts restaurants have been forced to close due to the pandemic. Out of almost 16,000 restaurants across the state, 3,400 have recently closed. 

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker called the struggles local restaurants are facing “heartbreaking”, but said “It’s part of what comes with Covid.”

Krystal Freitas, 19,  who works as a waitress at the Segregansett Country Club’s restaurant in Taunton, Massachusetts, said when the restaurant was first able to reopen during the first phase of Covid restrictions, they had to seat customers outside on their deck, and could only operate at 25% occupancy. 

When Phase Two was put into place, they were only able to operate at a 50% occupancy, and had to remove tables in accordance with social distancing guidelines.

Freitas said that these restrictions were tough for the business.

 “There was talk every week that we might have to shut down for good. Even our regular customers who still came in would be telling us they hoped we didn’t have to close.”

In the end Segregansett did not shut down, and is now almost back to where they were before the pandemic, said Freitas. 

“Thankfully we are still open and doing well. I’d say that recently we have had the same amount of customers daily that we had before Covid.”

Restaurant goers are also noticing a big difference in the overall dining experience before and after the pandemic, and the impact is felt all over New England.

Nolan Carlson, 19, from Seekonk, Massachusetts, said “Micheletti’s Restaurant in my town used to be the spot where people would go to hang out. It was a gathering place. Now it’s takeout only. Now they started using their ice cream window that wasn’t usually open before Covid. They just need more ways to attract customers with all the restrictions.”

Ethan Penn, 19, from West Hartford, Connecticut, said “In my city I think we rallied together to help the restaurants stay afloat. They set up the outdoor dining and takeout, and lots of people still went out and ordered food. I think the cities that don’t care are getting their restaurants shut down, so it is up to the cities to help them stay open.”

Local restaurants are not the only ones being affected by the pandemic, and chain restaurants are also shutting down in large numbers. Starbucks has been forced to close almost 400 stores, while McDonalds is shutting down 200.

Burger King has even put out an ad urging customers to order from McDonald’s, as well as other chain and local restaurants, in order to save these restaurants from going under.

The ad read, in part, "We never thought we'd be asking you to do this, but restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment. So, if you want to help, keep treating yourself to tasty meals through home delivery, takeaway or drive thru."

Cam Clark, 19, who works at a Pizza Hut in Woburn, Massachusetts, said that after Covid they implemented new safety measures such as glass shields, social distancing guidelines, and wearing masks, but the way they prepared the food did not change.

However, Clark said the amount of customers in the location did change. “We’ve definitely had way less people come in after Covid than we did before.”

Women in the Workforce: The Impact of COVID-19

 By Jordyn Forte

When 24-year-old Ashley Lafontaine gave birth to her first child in January, she had anticipated taking a few weeks away from her job at Dave’s Marketplace on maternity leave. She never anticipated those few weeks turning into nine months and counting because of the Coronavirus.

 

On January 28 when Lafontaine’s daughter, Rileigh, was born, the Coronavirus had not yet slammed the United States.  

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had only confirmed the first Coronavirus case in the United States on January 21, a week before Lafontaine gave birth.

 

In the days and weeks following Rileigh’s birth, the number of Coronavirus cases in the United States continued to rise steadily, officially surpassing 100 confirmed cases in the U.S. on March 3.

 

As news about the severity of the Coronavirus emerged, Lafontaine said she decided to take more time out of work to spend with her then one-month-old infant. Due to childcare concerns, Lafontaine eventually left her job.

 

Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey revealed that nearly one in five (19.6%) adults are out of work as a direct result of disrupted childcare arrangements.

 

Of those who have retained their jobs during the pandemic, “mothers with young children reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers,” another study published in Gender, Work, and Organization found.

 

In Lafontaine’s case, the decision to quit was a result of scheduling conflicts.

 

With Dave’s Marketplace having reduced its hours because of the pandemic, Lafontaine said that her schedule – which was opposite to her husband, Jeff’s – no longer aligned with her husband’s, making it impossible for her to work, as it would leave her daughter without a caretaker.

 

Lafontaine said the threat of the Coronavirus, especially where she now has an infant’s health to consider, also weighed in heavily on her decision not to return to work.

 

While her husband picked up extra hours at his job – transporting car parts and materials for auto repair shops and dealerships – to compensate for their temporary loss of income, Lafontaine also looked for new ways to contribute to her family’s finances.

 

“I wanted to find a way to help while also staying safe and being able to take care of Rileigh,” Lafontaine said.

 

To do so, Lafontaine now works as a Door Dash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub delivery driver when her husband is at home watching their daughter.

 

Lafontaine also works as an independent consultant for Pampered Chef when she is at home caring for her daughter.

 

“Working for Pampered Chef is great because I can work around Rileigh’s schedule, which is different every day,” Lafontaine said.

 

Though things have been a bit tumultuous for her family since the onset of the pandemic, Lafontaine said that she is still grateful to be in the situation in which she finds herself, as she believes others have been impacted by the pandemic far more greatly than she and her family have been.

 

“I’m grateful I don’t have school-aged children during this crazy time. School closings and shut downs have caused thousands, if not millions, of families to experience financial issues, which only places added stress onto mothers and fathers who are trying to provide for their families during the pandemic,” Lafontaine said.

 

As a working mother of three school-aged children, Meredith Davis, 41, said that she has felt the stress of the pandemic in her everyday life.

 

“This pandemic has caused all sorts of headaches for Ben and I,” Davis said.

 

Davis’ children, Dylan, 12, Rebecca, 9, and Meghan, 8, all attend public school in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

 

When Davis, who works at Amazon, and her husband, Ben, who works for EDENS, a retail real estate owner, operator, and developer, are busy with work obligations, they generally rely on a babysitter to watch their three children.

 

However, when Rhode Island Gov., Gina M. Raimondo closed all public schools on March 14, the Davis’ were initially left without any childcare.

 

As a result, Davis said she was forced to reduce her work hours.

 

Weeks into the pandemic, Davis said her husband, who normally commutes to and from Boston, began to work from home. 

 

To accommodate this, Davis said she would stay home with the kids in the morning while her husband worked in his home office; the two of them would then reverse roles, with Davis going into work for a later, closing shift while her husband would stay with their children.

 

With her children’s education currently being delivered in a hybridized in-person and online format, Davis said that she and her husband are forced to keep juggling their schedules in a balancing act.

 

When their schedules do not line up and they need someone to watch the children, Davis said she reaches out to her father, who lives in Connecticut, as a last resort.

 

Like Davis’ father, there are a number of other grandparents who have been stepping in to assist with childcare roles during the pandemic. 

 

Donna Laplume, 54, has always played an active role in her grandchildren’s lives, but she said that the circumstances surrounding the pandemic have made her more involved in her grandkids’ everyday lives than ever before. 

 

Laplume lives with her 26-year-old son, Jordan, and his seven-year-old son, Hunter.

 

While her son works, Laplume watches her grandson.

 

Laplume’s grandson attends Flora S. Curtis Elementary School in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Because of the pandemic, Laplume’s grandson is receiving his education remotely this fall.

 

As a result, Laplume said that she has taken on the role of a teacher for her grandson.

 

“I do distance learning with Hunter from nine o’clock in the morning until two-thirty in the afternoon,” Laplume said, “and I help Hunter [with his schoolwork] when he needs it. I also check to make sure his work is done.”

 

Though Laplume is able to aid her grandson, she said that she is sure there are many grandparents who don’t know how to work laptops or newer technology well enough to properly assist their grandkids.

 

Helping her grandson with his virtual learning in the morning has also caused Laplume, who works as a customer service representative at Bed Bath & Beyond, to have to change her availability at work.

 

Laplume said that she used to work opening shifts but has since adjusted her availability to closing shifts because of pandemic-imposed childcare concerns.

 

Though Laplume said she is still working the same number of hours as she did before adjusting her availability, she said that her new schedule is demanding.

 

“Having to change my hours has had a tremendous effect on me, my routine, and my personal life. I do distance learning with Hunter until two-thirty in the afternoon and I have to be to work for three – I really only have Sunday to do as much as I can, so it’s difficult for me to make appointments and complete errands,” Laplume said.

 

“I was fortunate that I was able to change my hours at work,” Laplume said, “many people can’t, and if I hadn’t, I would have to rely on my 75-year-old mother, who has asthma and other health issues, for help – that would worry me.”

 

“This pandemic has really turned everyone’s lives upside down,” Laplume said.

 

Also disproportionately affected by the pandemic are those working on the frontline.

 

According to data produced by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), women account for 64.4% of the workforce in all frontline industries, and they comprise 76.8% of the global healthcare workforce.

 

Kristen Scott, 42, a Registered Nurse at Morton Hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts, said that the pandemic has affected her emotionally, mentally, and physically.

 

“I’ve watched too many patients lose their lives to the Coronavirus, most of them dying alone with no family by their side. My coworkers and I have had to serve as these patients’ family members, staying by their bedside and holding their hands as they take their last breaths,” Scott said.

 

“Caring for those infected by the virus is also stressful,” Scott said, “because I have myself and my loved ones to worry about too – my mother is 67 and I don’t want her getting sick.”

 

Scott’s concerns are shared by many others, as demonstrated by data collected by the American Nurses Association (ANA), which found that, “87% of nurses [who responded to the survey] fear going to work.”

 

With the pandemic consuming the entirety of both her home and work lives, Scott said she feels burnt out and exhausted, so much to the point in which she had to take a stress leave from work from July to September.

 

Multiple studies have found that depression, burnout, and suicide are generally more prominent in individuals working in the medical field than in other individuals.

 

According to the National Academy of Medicine, “Studies found that the risk for suicide among male physicians was 40% higher than for men in the general population, [and] for female physicians, that risk was 130% higher.”

 

“Sadly, this pandemic will have lasting effects on many,” Scott said, “as the Coronavirus does not discriminate.” 

How new nurses are adjusting to the pandemic

             By Jennifer Perrone

             For new nurses, learning the way a hospital runs is difficult. COVID-19 is changing the hospital operations, making that adjustment even harder. 

 Specifically, new nurses have been affected in different ways. 

COVID-19 is the largest health pandemic the world has seen this century and it has rapidly spread globally. There have been 5.4 million cases counted in 180 countries. 

Jalyn Byrd, who started as a nurse at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia in 2019 said that at the beginning of the pandemic the biggest change was where she was placed.  

“It was like every time I would go to work, I would be in the Covid unit,” Byrd said.  

Then the protocol in hospitals quickly began to change. Whether it was the requirement of masks everywhere or what wings were restricted, the staff was being given new rules regularly. 

 “It was like last week you told us this, and now this week you’re telling us the complete opposite,” Byrd said.  

After the virus hit, double shifts became triple shifts and staff members were expected to work extra shifts because of those who may have contracted the virus. 

Byrd said to get tested initially you had to have had severe symptoms.  

“Even those who did test positive, the hospital still wanted them to come back to work as soon as they can,” Byrd said.  

Supporting patients is a crucial role that nurses play. There have been several reports that detail the additional negative effects the virus has had on healthcare professionals, especially nurses. Studies conducted during the epidemics caused by SARS in 2003, influenza A in 2013, and even Ebola in 2018 have all documented negative psychological effects for nurses. Feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. 

Hospitals are not allowing patient visitors unless there is a dying family member. Even then there is only one to three people allowed in, often leaving nurses to provide additional emotional support to patients. 

Byrd said patients are more depressed and for people without phones she is the person in the middle to give communication. 

Nurses who are new to a hospital usually have a week of orientation where they attend classes and walk around the hospital. That has all changed. 

Byrd recently started at Grady hospital in Atlanta, Georgia this past August and she said most of the introductions and orientation training was mostly over Zoom.  

“When you start a job, you want to shake your manager's hand and hug your co-workers but with the pandemic the training was completely different,” Byrd said.  

Niquia McWaters, a physician's assistant at Polk County School Board Health Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, said that protocol in the hospitals was altered in various ways.  

“There have been changes that affect almost every aspect of clinic protocol. We screen patients at the door for illness related questions and monitor temperature. If you have symptoms of illness or fever, we can not see you in the clinic,” McWaters said. 

McWaters said that the adaptation to change was not much different for new staff, but having experience made her more comfortable.  

“I think mindset and prior experiences drive the compliance,” McWaters said.  

Not only have new nurses been affected but nursing students who are trying to get hands-on opportunities are being held back.  

Karen Demaris, a senior biology major at Stonehill College, plans to be a nurse. Most nursing students go to graduate school and then work a couple days in a hospital while taking classes.  

“I am nervous going into my rotations and having to go into a hospital during a pandemic,” Demaris said. 

Reports on nursing students done during the pandemic found some feel their skill level are undeveloped and they felt overwhelmed going into the field. Stress levels were higher because clinical practices were shut down.  

It was determined in the report that 68.1% of first year nursing students were worried about being infected at work.  

Demaris said that the application process to graduate school has changed because some schools aren't taking test scores for applicants because the tests were not given due to the pandemic.