Quarantines and schedule changes: HCS new athletic director preps for season ahead

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - In his first year as the athletic director for Horry County Schools, Jason Cox already has a busy season ahead.

Before the school year even began, the district reported 222 student-athletes were in quarantine as a result of positive COVID-19 cases on athletic teams.

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Cox said while it may sound like a lot of students, often times only one student on a team ends up being positive. But due to the nature of close contact sports like football, the whole team has a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Once teams are out of quarantine, they have mandatory practice days in place before they can compete. Football teams need three days of practice before they play.

However, Cox noted increasing student-athlete vaccinations can be key to keeping more teams on the field.

“I believe it’s this weekend - we’ve got a vaccination clinic at four locations and we’re encouraging our student-athletes to go get vaccinated,” Cox said.

For football games, tickets must be bought online and a clear bag policy is still in place.

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