Wisconsin Forensic Coaches’ Association Requirements for COVID-19 Mitigation at WFCA Sanctioned In-Person Tournaments
By a vote of the executive committee, WFCA has established the following requirements for WFCA Sanctioned In-Person Tournaments
Updated October 19, 2021
- Full vaccination of all coaches, judges and students is strongly encouraged.
- Coaches will ensure that all students and judges are screened for symptoms prior to coming to the tournament. Anyone with symptoms cannot attend.
- Masks - covering nose & mouth - to be worn at all times except when performing, as noted below.
- Six-foot physical distancing will be maintained, including no handshakes, high-fives, etc.
- Prominent signage will be around the host school reminding that masks are required, frequent hand washing and sanitizing is encouraged, and to monitor for symptoms.
Student Location and Meeting
Each team is provided 1 classroom for their team for meeting before the tournament, at lunch and final rounds. This room could also be used for preliminary competition rounds, so students must keep all personal belongings with them.
Judge’s Lounge
No food will be served. Hosts may choose to provide bottled/canned drinks and/or individually wrapped items.
Team Ballots & Critiques
All ballots and critiques will be written and submitted online. Judges must come with their own Wi-Fi enabled laptop, tablet or personal device. No paper ballots or critiques will be distributed.
Lunch
Students must bring their own. No food or drinks will be served by tournament hosts. Alternatively, pre-packaged boxes/foods (i.e. granola bars, beverages) that are pre-ordered could be made available. Lunch is to be eaten in each team room. Coaches are responsible to ensure rooms are left in original condition and all desks/surfaces are sanitized before leaving. Masks must be worn when not eating.
If individual team rooms are not large enough or are not available for lunch, some teams may be assigned to the school cafeteria or other common area, provided different teams remain separated by distances of more than six feet, and students are spaced apart as much as possible.
Preliminary and Final Rounds
Students may only remove masks once they are in the front of the room to perform. Masks have to be put back on before returning to their seats. Performers must be a minimum of 6 feet from the audience and farther whenever possible. Only the judge(s) and contestants may be in the room, with no guests or other spectators. Judge(s) and students must sit several desks apart to maintain six foot distancing as much as possible.
For final rounds, students who do not advance would be required to return to their team room and remain as distant as possible while continuing to wear masks.
For purposes of contact tracing, the tournament host must maintain the complete schematics including the full names and schools of all students and judges in every section of every round of the tournament. This must be made available to any coach or school in attendance.
Notifications
Coaches must notify the tournament director if a student or judge is diagnosed with COVID-19 within 2 weeks of tournament attendance. The tournament host will review the schematic and contact every coach that had a student/judge in any round with the affected student/judge.
Transportation
The CDC’s Order requiring masks for everyone on all public transportation does extend to school buses (public and private), so everyone (staff, coaches, judges, students) must wear them on buses/vans used to transport team members. The information below is from CDC’s updated Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools:
- During school transportation: CDC’s Order applies to all public transportation conveyances including school buses. Regardless of the mask policy at school, passengers and drivers must wear a mask on school buses, including on buses operated by public and private school systems, subject to the exclusions and exemptions in CDC’s Order. For example, if a student attends a school where mask use is not required due to vaccination status (e.g., a high school with a high rate of vaccination), the student is still required to wear a mask on the school bus.
- Schools should provide masks to those students who need them (including on buses), such as students who forgot to bring their mask or whose families are unable to afford them.