Student-athletes over the age of 12 will need to be vaccinated or provide consistent negative COVID-19 tests in order to continue playing in school sports.

The Province of Manitoba has announced that these students will have to have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by December 6 to participate in extracurricular indoor sporting activities, unless they provide negative COVID-19 test results within 72 hours from the event.

Superintendent with the Portage la Prairie School Division, Todd Cuddington says the school board has always been pro-vaccine.

"Our position on the board has all along been if you're eligible to be vaccinated, the evidence at this point is pretty clear that it reduces the severity when you get COVID and certainly reduces the chance of hospitalizations," Cuddington explains. "We're certainly a proponent of vaccinations."

Cuddington says at this point they haven't been given a lot of information regarding rapid testing for any students looking to go that route. He recommends any parents or students who are looking for more information about rapid COVID-19 testing contact a local pharmacist.

The superintendent notes all of these new restrictions are coming down from the province and have not been issued by the division themselves. He adds they haven't seen much push back at this point other than a few parents calling to inquire about the rapid testing option.

Cuddington says he doesn't believe this is due to any COVID outbreaks within athletics.

"We haven't seen issues with the current team sports when it comes to outbreaks or anything like that," Cuddington says. "We don't believe that the order has come about as a result of wide-spread COVID on team sports. From our experience in Portage, that hasn't been the case with our football or volleyball teams."

This ruling will take effect on December 6.