New county guidelines have put the Aggies’ season on pause until further notice
After a long awaited return to the floor, UC Davis basketball will have to take another break.
Due to new Yolo County health orders, both men’s and women’s basketball competition has been paused for the time being. The rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in the county led officials to issue new guidelines starting on Dec. 6. As the Greater Sacramento region inches closer to 15% intensive care unit (ICU) capacity, officials in Yolo County hope these restrictions limit the ongoing outbreak.
“Yolo County hospitals are running out of ICU beds,” said Yolo County Public Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson in a press release. “If more people become infected with coronavirus, we are facing the reality of not having enough resources to adequately treat them. We have to act now to slow the spread by limiting high-risk activities that bring people close together, especially when they aren’t wearing masks.”
Among those new guidelines, youth, adult recreational, collegiate and professional sports are limited to drills and conditioning outdoors, with social distancing enforced. That means all games and scrimmages are not allowed, and practices for both the men’s and women’s team have to be paused.
UC Davis Athletics Director Kevin Blue announced the news on Saturday, Dec. 5, the day before the UC Davis Women’s Basketball team were scheduled to play Fresno-Pacific at The Pavilion. Having only played one game in the season thus far, it was slated to be the Aggies’ return to action. Games against Simpson (11/28) and Santa Clara University (12/3) were canceled shortly after the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The game against causeway rival Sacramento State on Dec. 8 was also canceled due to these new guidelines.
On the men’s side, the Aggies were fresh off a big win against William Jessup in Davis the day before. After losing the first two games in the Bronco Invitational to start the season, they bounced back, winning the last two and looked to build more momentum. But, their game against California Baptist University on Dec. 8 has also been canceled.
Both teams are currently working on ways to conduct activities that will fall under these new restrictions. Because of the uncertainty that comes with this pandemic, there is no timetable on when they will return. The hope is that numbers will improve with these new guidelines and they can return to action soon, but as of now, they will have to remain compliant. With Big West Conference play set to begin on Dec. 27, the only thing the Aggies can do right now is play the waiting game.
Written by: Omar Navarro— sports@theaggie.org
