Key Points: - COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a severe respiratory illness that has profound impact on health and presents unique challenges to the sporting community. - It is important to establish preventative measures, such as masks, physical distancing, symptom monitoring, testing, and contact tracing along with clear, evidence-based guidelines for safe return to play after athletes have been exposed to and/or infected with COVID-19. - Organizations must continue to implement scalable protocols for travel and use of athletic facilities, which allow for physical distancing and minimize risk of virus transmission, as well as distribution of vaccines as they become more widely available. - Athletes recovering from COVID-19 should be monitored for cardiac and pulmonary complications after successful return to play, although these complications are rarer than initially thought. - The use of an Incident Command Structure is one example of how organizations can successfully implement strategies to reduce transmission and enforce effective measures for return to play.
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