SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – High school football is officially underway, but a pair of schools didn’t get to have a Friday night kick-off.
Salt Lake City School District canceled the Bountiful Redhawks – Highland Rams football game because a player contracted COVID-19.
Salt Lake City Schools tells ABC4 News a Highland player became symptomatic on Wednesday and received a positive COVID test Thursday.
After talking with the Salt Lake County Health Department, officials knew they couldn’t finish contact tracing before the game, and the team didn’t know if they would have enough players to compete, so they canceled the game.
We caught up with Linda Hopkins who was at the Orem vs West football game. She says, “I’m glad that they are paying attention to the fact that, you know, they need to keep the kids and the parents safe. So I’m really pleased that they did that.”
Most of the parents we talked to say they want their high school students to have as best and normal of a year as possible.
“I think it will be better than last year, but I just hope that people will continue to be cautious,” says Hopkins.
Football mom Stacey Dye adds, “It is just unfortunate for the youth that there are these milestones they are hitting and they are just not getting to celebrate these milestones like they should.”
Dye says the difference in this football season compared to the last are the options to stay safe, even if things appear a little more crowded.
“If they want to stay home and mask, and social distance, let them,” she says. “If they want to come and play and enjoy life and, you know, do what, you know, everybody should feel safe with what they are doing, but if we feel safe, I think we should be able to come.”
