PHOENIX — The Phoenix Union High School District announced on Thursday that they will formally end the fall athletics season and postpone the beginning of the winter season as the spread of COVID-19 continues to increase in Arizona.
The fall sports season will end officially on Nov. 16.
The football season for the school district began later than most schools in the state, on the last weekend of October, after most schools began the first weekend of October.
There has been no established start date for the winter season as the district will be using the virus spread data to determine when to resume in-person activities.
The decision to stop athletics activities came after the district's zip codes saw a significant increase in cases throughout the last two weeks.
PXU Director of Student Connectedness Dr. Zachary Muñoz said in the District statement, “We know our student-athletes want to return to competition, and we share in their disappointment with this delay. As we continue to monitor the community spread of COVID-19, we hope to meet the benchmarks needed for a safe return.”
The PXU District recently launched a COVID-19 Data Dashboard with campus specific information and community spread data for zip codes where students and faculty live. The website is updated weekly.
