So much depends on the sport itself. Close contact and physical exertion put hockey and basketball in a higher risk category, but masks during practice and games can provide some protection. It’s easier to distance in swim lanes, but you can’t mask in the water.

So what should parents keep in mind as they’re weighing these decisions?

Whenever you can, mask.

Parents should consider multiple factors, including the facility’s size and ventilation (big and well ventilated is best), the amount of physical contact in the sport and whether players are required — or able — to wear masks, said Dr. Susan Huang, medical director for epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.

“The mask, the hand hygiene, the distance,” Dr. Huang said. That is “the trio that you really have to think about.”

Whether to mask during play is often up to the teams. In some sports, it’s difficult. On the balance beam or uneven bars in gymnastics, for example, masks can slip and impair visibility, Dr. Briskin said.

But whenever possible, as much as possible, kids should wear masks when playing indoors, Dr. Huang said.

“That mask,” she said, “is one of the most protective things you can do. And children are very, very adaptable.” While masks are not required for her 13-year-old son’s cross-country team, he wears a special running mask whenever he’s near other runners.

Parents should be sure that masks for sports fit snugly, feel comfortable and, importantly, have multiple layers, said Mark Cameron, an associate professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and an emerging infectious disease researcher.

Source: New York Times

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