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Meriden Raiders Football Season Suspended Due to COVID-19: City Officials

NBC 5 News

The Meriden Raiders football season has been suspended following two separate cases of COVID-19, city officials announced Wednesday.

The Meriden Raiders football league is part of an independent youth program that had been allowing play, with restrictions in place to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus. City officials said in a memo Wednesday that in light of two players testing positive for the coronavirus, they have decided to suspend the Fall 2020 season.

The two cases are considered separate incidents, officials said. As a result, 62 people are quarantining. Many of those affected are school-aged children, officials said.

The state Department of Public Health was notified and has issued guidance on the situation.

More than 1,000 people gathered at the Capitol calling for a fall high school football season.

"Public safety and the well-being of its community is the ultimate reason for City official’s decision to suspend the Meriden Raiders Fall season. The City has witnessed an uptick in positives cases since August and is looking to mitigate factors that may be causing an increase in cases. This decision is not made due to any fault on the part of the Raiders. Unfortunately, the sport is inherently risky in a COVID-19 environment," city officials said in a memo.

On Tuesday the Raiders posted on their Facebook page that they suspended league activity for 14 days when they learned of a confirmed COVID-19 case in August. The league told NBC Connecticut Wednesday that games and scrimmages have been suspended until further notice.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has canceled its fall football season, and DPH has determined full contact football is "high risk" in terms of the potential spread of the coronavirus.

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