March 22, 2022
Over the past two years, Special Olympics Ontario (SOO) has always made the health and safety of our members a priority. We are very grateful to our membership who chose to Return to In Person Programs, and did so with care and attention to keep everyone healthy. As a result, we have had minimal COVID positive cases within our programs. We are also very thankful to those coaches who embraced our virtual programs as an opportunity to stay connected. Your ability to adapt to new training methods is proof that we will not let anything stand in our way to keep the Special Olympics athletes active. Thank you!
Moving forward, we will continue to keep health and safety a priority as we plan our exit from the Return to Program guidelines. We know COVID-19 still remains a concern in our communities so we will remain diligent to ward off any more opportunities for the virus to spread.
Below is an outline of the Return to Program exit strategy and introduce the Return to Competition plan. Note: should COVID cases begin rising again, SOO reserves the right to revise the exit strategy at any time. School based sport programs will continue to follow the direction of their respective school board. Partner programs will continue to follow the direction of their respective provincial sport organization.
Effective immediately:
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SOO will be extending the mask requirements for all SOO indoor programs until further notice. Please refer to the sport specific guidelines, click here
- Outdoor programs will follow facility specific mask requirements
- SOO Vaccine Declaration process will continue for all indoor and outdoor programs
- Return to Program application process will remain in effect at this time
- All indoor and outdoor sport programs may now incorporate full scrimmages/competition type training drills within their training sessions
Effective April 1st:
- SOO to introduce Communicable Disease Guidelines
Effective April 23rd – Return to Competition
- Indoor and Outdoor programs will begin in person competitions with COVID safety protocols and limited capacity
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Please refer to the Return to Competition Information here
Effective May 1st:
- Communicable Disease Guidelines will replace all Return to Program Guidelines
- SOO Vaccine Declaration will no longer be required. All programs to follow their facility specific vaccination guidelines.
- SOO RTP application process will no longer be required
- Mask requirements for indoor programs will be optional by community
- Indoor and Outdoor competitions to gradually increase capacity limits
