The hand of coronavirus is now being felt at state high school tournaments, too.
On Friday, during the Class 5A girls basketball Great 8, CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green tweeted that the organization is discouraging the traditional pregame and postgame handshakes in order to limit skin-on-skin contact that could spread COVID-19.
“From the CHSAA Staff: We are encouraging students, coaches and referees at events not to shake hands,” Green wrote, “but acknowledge with (a) head-nod, fist pump or elbows.”
From the CHSAA Staff: We are encouraging students, coaches, and referees at events not to shake hands but acknowledge with head-nod, fist pump or elbows 🙌🏾
— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) March 7, 2020
The edict applies to CHSAA state tournaments in hockey, boys basketball and girls basketball, with the final two of the three wrapping up next Saturday across the Front Range.
As of early Friday evening, there were eight known cases of coronavirus reported in Colorado, two in greater Denver.
Blanford-Green’s request mirrors those taking place at other basketball tournaments this month, most notably the Atlantic 10 Conference, which asked that forearm bumps replace handshakes in the pregame and postgame protocol.
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