Georgetown cancels boys and girls basketball seasons due to COVID-19 outbreak

Daily News of Newburyport - 1/20/2021

Jan. 20—GEORGETOWN — The Georgetown boys and girls basketball teams have been shut down for the remainder of the season due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the programs.

The cancellation was announced late Tuesday night in an email from Georgetown Superintendent Carol Jacobs, who said the decision was made after a significant number of players and coaches tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week.

"Despite our best efforts, there has been a significant number of positive cases over the past week and a half on the coaching staff and players on both teams," Jacobs said. "Currently the entire boys and girls teams are quarantined for two weeks since all are considered close contacts because they were within six feet of each other for more than 15 minutes."

Jacobs said players are being tested and contact tracing has been done for each, and further action will be taken if more students test positive. But given the seriousness of the outbreak she felt there was no choice but to shut the season down.

"With three of four coaches testing positive and eight of 24 students testing positive this past week with numerous others with symptoms and awaiting test results, it is just not safe to continue with the program," she said.

Georgetown is the first Cape Ann League school to cut a winter sport short due to a COVID-19 outbreak, and the decision will be a tremendous disappointment to the athletes and coaches who already came close to losing their seasons once before. Georgetown basketball's tryouts were delayed after the Georgetown Board of Health initially voted not to allow the high school gym to be used for winter sports, but after discussions between school and health officials the teams were ultimately allowed to compete.

Georgetown athletic director Ryan Browner said he felt terrible for the athletes and coaches.

"This whole process to get things going, especially for Georgetown, we were the last ones in and now it's all gone," Browner said. "It's disheartening for the kids and the coaches for all the hard work they've put in."

The cancellation will be particularly painful for the boys, which boasted one of its best teams in program history. The Royals were undefeated at 5-0 prior to the shutdown and looked set to compete for the CAL Baker Division championship, and in a normal year may have also been capable of going on a deep run in the Division 4 state tournament.

Though the girls finished the year 0-4, they did show signs of improvement with several underclassmen emerging as potential building blocks on a future contender.

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