Last week, the Prime Minister announced the new ‘Living with COVID-19‘ plan, detailing how the UK will tackle the COVID-19 pandemic moving forward.
The government removed all law-binding restrictions associated with COVID-19 and, as a result, there is no longer any guidance from DCMS regarding sport specifically – this is now replaced with the ‘Living with COVID-19’ guidance.
Whilst the legal requirement to self-isolate if testing positive has been removed, we are encouraged to take personal responsibility concerning COVID-19, and self-isolation is still recommended.
Therefore, if you test positive or display symptoms of COVID-19, you should not attend netball activity.
What does this mean for netball?
England Netball recommends the Netball Family maintains best practice and for netball organisers to continue to utilise many elements of our previous COVID-19 guidance. This should help keep the transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases to a minimum.
Here is our core guidance…
- Anybody who has tested positive or is displaying symptoms of COVID-19 should not attend netball activity. We recommend that all netball organisations continue to share this with their members/participants.
- Sanitisation of hands and equipment should continue.
- Risk Assessments and Risk Mitigation plans should continue to be completed for any activity – these should continue to cover the risk of COVID-19 and its spread during netball activity. Any existing Risk Assessments produced may still be relevant and can still be used.
Additional advice
The use of lateral flow tests are useful in identifying COVID-19, and whilst available (without charge), we recommended using them before netball activity. This will help protect your teammates and the rest of the Netball Family.
Netball organisations (particularly leagues & competition providers) should continue to have competition regulations and processes that support the management of COVID-19 and do not penalise people who have confirmed or suspected COVID-19.
For members of England Netball, supporting materials will continue to be included within the Care Package.
If it isn’t a legal requirement, why do I need to continue to self-isolate if I test positive?
The government still recommends that when someone tests positive or are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, they should self-isolate; this approach will continue to be encouraged in netball.
Netball is a team sport, and it is our personal responsibility to minimise the spread of COVID-19 to protect our closest teammates, their families and loved ones, as well as the broader Netball Family.
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease and the legal requirement to self-isolate ensured that people could rest and recover. It is important that the Netball Family gives themselves chance to recover and, like any other illness, is fully fit and well before taking to court.
We would like to say thank you for your continued support throughout the pandemic and for everything you do for netball.
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