USATF COVID-19 Working Group Event Hosting Guidance for Athletes, Coaches, Clubs, and Associations during the COVID-19 Pandemic v2.1 (3/4/22) [Edits from v2.0 are in red text]
The specific COVID-19 protocols for Tier 1 events (which includes USATF National Championships, events that qualify for USATF national teams, and Journey to Gold Events) will be determined by USATF on an event-by-event basis and announced no later than 30 days prior to the event.
As the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, this update allows USATF to have the most flexibility to institute proper levels of risk mitigation, dependent on the specific situation of each Tier 1 event. USATF will consult with its COVID-19 Working Group to make evidence-based decisions from specific event logistics, output from the CDC COVID-19 Community Level Tool to determine risk by county, information on new variants, and overall COVID-19 data for the location of the event.
This guidance document (“Guidance”) on event hosting considerations post-COVID-19 has been developed by USATF’s COVID-19 Working Group, composed of medical and scientific experts in the fields of sports medicine, physiology, infectious disease, and epidemiology. This Guidance is based on and includes portions of specific content from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”) guidance document on event hosting considerations and World Health Organization (“WHO”) mass gathering guidance. This Guidance sets as primary consideration the rules and regulations set forth by public health authorities and state and local governments, which will be different across the country. The secondary consideration should be the specific recommendations set forth in this document. In either case (State/Local or USATF), the portions of each regulation which are more restrictive should be the guidance that is followed, so long as the specific recommendations set forth in this Guidance are met. This also does not prevent associations, local clubs, and events from adopting even more strict or more conservative approaches than those mandated by local public health authorities or recommended by the USATF Guidance. This Guidance should be considered a “living document.” This means that the document’s criteria and recommendations are based on known factors at the time of writing. As more information becomes available concerning COVID-19, this Guidance will be updated as appropriate and new version(s) are released to the USATF membership and event hosts. Finally, although the young and healthy tend to have less severe cases of COVID-19, every case of this disease is potentially life-altering or deadly in any age group, but particularly so in USATF athletes, coaches, and officials with select risk factors — such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, immune suppression, neurologic disorders affecting respiration, or individuals of advanced age. This guidance is designed to mitigate the risk of virus transmission, but there is no way of completely eliminating the risk of fatal infection. This should always be in the forefront when considering event hosting decisions.
Determine the event Tier (Tier 1, Tier 2) for your event, described below.
Tier 1 events include: All USATF National Championship events at all levels (youth, open, masters), all events that qualify for a USATF National Team, USATF series events (e.g., Journey to Gold, Indoor Grand Prix, etc.). Tier 2 events include: All other events sanctioned by USATF. Note, if a meet / road race / event includes a mix of athletes or divisions between Tiers 1 and 2, participants in the Tier 1 event / division follow Tier 1 guidelines and participants in the Tier 2 event / division follow Tier 2 guidelines.
For Tier 1 events, USATF will — in consultation with its COVID-19 Working Group of medical and scientific experts — determine specific COVID-19 protocols to mitigate risk specific for each event. USATF and/or the event will publish the COVID-19 protocols for each Tier 1 event no later than 30 days prior to the event. For Tier 2 events, Federal, State, and Local guidelines as they relate to COVID-19 procedures are the standard to be followed. This includes (but is not limited to) Federal, State, and Local guidelines on factors such as permit requirements, event size / numbers restrictions, mask requirements, COVID-19 negative testing requirements, proof of vaccination requirements, indoor versus outdoor event requirements, event signage, event sanitation and disinfection, etc. USATF strongly recommends utilizing the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels tool to determine if the county of the event is considered low, medium, or high risk and implementing appropriate risk mitigation strategies. Tier 2 events can be sanctioned as part of the normal USATF sanction process.