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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPitt vs. Virginia Tech will be first game with players required to wear face coverings in the field
Because we have to have the football game
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/pitt-vs-virginia-tech-will-be-first-game-with-players-required-to-wear-face-coverings-in-the-field-of-play/
Face coverings have been a part of college football sidelines this fall ... sort of ... but to this point they have not been present on the field during play. That's going to change Saturday when Pitt and Virginia Tech face off at 4 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh. According to a Pitt release, players will wear face coverings while on the field and sidelines "in alignment with recent guidance from state officials regarding the current health climate." The statement also said that those rules extend to Virginia Tech as well.
The office of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a new order for face coverings this week, effective Nov. 17. The new order clamps down on wearing masks indoors and outdoors if people are unable to maintain social distancing. That order is extended to athletes if "they cannot maintain sustained physical distance from persons outside of their household. This includes while actively engaged in workouts, competition, and on the sidelines, in the dugout, etc. If sustained six-foot distancing can be maintained, face coverings may be removed when outdoors."
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles may have to do the same when they play their next home games over the next 10 days. The Steelers, per a spokesperson, said that they were exempt from the guidelines, but the governor's office has insisted that's not the case. Additionally, Penn State issued a separate statement on Friday saying it, too, is exempt from the order.
To put it lightly, wearing masks has been done more liberally on sidelines than the rules intended. But there has been little to no evidence of on-field transmission, according to more than a dozen people who spoke with Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated. Wearing face coverings adds another layer of difficulty on top of what is already a difficult year. There's a good chance wearing masks on the field won't be widely adopted.
MyOwnPeace
(16,925 posts)What is the penalty if the mask slips off of the nose - is it 5 yards, 10 yards, replay of down??????
What a crazy time in which we live..........
underpants
(182,750 posts)Unsportsmanlike? 15 yards?
MyOwnPeace
(16,925 posts)is the Trump University football team exempt from this rule?