The lasting impacts of EEE on local high school sports

MEDFIELD, Mass. — An entire state is on edge, and a tiny mosquito - smaller than a penny - is to blame.

So far this year, three people have died and 12 have been hospitalized after contracting EEE, elevating the risk of many local cities and towns to critical.

Experts say this is the worst year of the mosquito-borne viruses for people in 63 years.

According to state health officials, 35 communities are now at critical risk, 53 at high risk, and 121 at moderate risk for the EEE virus in Massachusetts.

For many, that means restricting outdoor activities, covering up every possible inch of skin and essentially showering yourself in DEET. But, what does that mean for outdoor school activities?

At Medfield High School, the original curfew for sports a month ago was 7 p.m., but that was when they were only at high risk.

Now, Medfield has been bumped up to critical risk for EEE and the current curfew is 6:30 p.m., but even that is about to change again.

Bleachers once full of students cheering on their friends are now not nearly as crowded.

"A lot of the students are very disappointed there are no nighttime football games to go to, especially as a senior, our senior year," said Genevieve Brooslin, a Medfield athlete.

This fall, all football, soccer and field hockey games will be played before dusk. With the risk for EEE continually growing and the sunset only getting earlier, this entire season has been rearranged.

"It makes it hard to get to games as parents right?" said Sheila Diestel, a parent from Norton. "It does but everyone is doing the best they can and the boys understand."

"I do foresee us moving to 6 o’clock either next week or the week after," said Eric Scott, the Medfield High School Director of Athletics. "So we are trying to be proactive as much as possible and move games forward. So this is probably the latest you will see a game in this game will be over at 5:30 p.m. Most of the schools especially in this area and our league are in the same exact boat."

In Medfield, the only games unchanged by the mosquito-borne virus are the ones scheduled for the last week of the season. Right now they are holding out for a first frost before senior night.

"If not, those games will obviously have to be moved up as well and those senior nights will become senior afternoons and we will find creative solutions, whether it be having senior night in the cafeterias or things like that, but we will make it work," said Scott.

Scott definitely has his work cut out for him. He says there is an afternoon game at the school just about every day, which means many of the teams don't even get an opportunity to practice.

"We are definitely hopeful but we don’t want to get our hopes too high and then be disappointed, so we are just taking it one week at a time, seeing how the curfew changes depending on if it gets cold earlier," said Brooslin. "We’re hoping there will be more senior nights and nighttime football games to go to."

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