Triple E Causing Issues For Fall Sports

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Alex Badger '20

Eastern equine encephalitis, better known as Triple E has been making its presence felt in central Massachusetts. There have been several new cases appearing throughout the area and the disease has led many to keep inside later at night. Recently the focus of the town and state as a whole has been on killing the mosquitoes who transmit the disease but it is beginning to expand to take over the entire town, especially the athletic department. 

 

Recently, the town was forced to make a statement cancelling all town events after the hour of 6:00 p.m. This is a monumental event for the town and is quite unfortunate as several events from the Rec Department and town events such as movie nights. More than anything, though this affects the schools.

 

Westborough High School was just finishing the tail end of a brutal battle for the lights that would be used for football soccer and field hockey games in the fall. But now, with Triple E arising it’s becoming a question of whether the lights will be used at all this fall. The lights won’t be used before 6:00 and this forced the athletic department to cancel and postpone several under the lights game, reverting schedules back to their old ways.

 

This is not just a Westborough thing, causing issues for surrounding schools such as Blackstone Valley Tech and Nipmuc. Some schools even without lights are struggling as the mosquitoes begin coming out around dusk and as the sun goes down teams are accustomed to still being able to practice. This is wreaking havoc in athletic departments from a scheduling perspective with practices, games and other extra curriculars.

 

Signs are that this Triple E issue will not be going anywhere any time soon. Students will have to wait until the “first frost” when there will be complete confidence that the mosquitoes have died. Meteorological projections for this date are around late October which will create major issues, giving teams minimal games under the lights.

 

Triple E is clearly tragic for those who get it, but some of the town wide effects are being felt every single day and are causing issues throughout. Athletic Director DiCarlo and the entire department has some massive challenges ahead of them if they’re going to get all these games played and it will be an interesting story to follow.