(Colorado Springs, Colo.) — USA Fencing announced today that health and safety protocols designed to protect athletes, coaches, referees and spectators will remain in place for the Division I/Parafencing National Championships and April North American Cup, set for April 21–24, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C.
USA Fencing’s decision to keep the policies unchanged was made after collecting feedback from USA Fencing members, including athletes, parents, coaches and officials. While USA Fencing is open to changing policies for future events — based on the latest health guidance and feedback from our members — we also acknowledge that changing the guidelines just weeks before our Charlotte event could create confusion and force members and officials to alter their plans for attending the tournament on short notice.
Protocols in place for Charlotte include:
Individuals who have completed a COVID vaccine series (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Novavak, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Covaxin, or CoronaVac) 14 days prior to arrival at the venue will NOT need to obtain a negative PCR test result.
All attendees of the tournament, ages 12 and older, who are not vaccinated must submit a religious or medical exemption request to the National Office for review. If an individual has been approved for a medical or religious exemption, he or she must provide their approval email received from the National Office, as well as a negative COVID-19 PCR test result. This includes athletes and staff, as well as all coaches and spectators. PCR test results must be from within 72 hours prior to arrival at the venue. Proof of your negative COVID-19 test result and exemption must be presented to a USA Fencing staff member at registration for verification.
As the pandemic continues to evolve, USA Fencing will continue to monitor COVID case numbers and the latest local, state and federal guidelines.
Any changes to health and safety protocols for our next national tournament — the 2022 Summer Nationals, set for July 2–11, 2022, in Minneapolis, Minn. — will be announced to members via email, our website and on social media.
All of us at USA Fencing thank you for your diligent effort to keep our fencers safe, healthy and competition-ready.
Tag(s): Updates