As restaurants and bars prepare to open, area high school students still prepare for sports that have been benched because of COVID-19 protocols.

Not being in a pandemic for 100 years makes it tough to manage because the people who are making decisions for our safety, seem to be doing it on the fly because they just don't have enough information to make consistent decisions for us all to abide.

According to WOOD, Grand Rapids Union High's basketball team have been having no-contact practices trying to prepare for a season that hasn't even started yet because of COVID-19 restrictions.

There are the new variant strains of COVID-19 that have state health officials the most worried. It seems if that is an issue for sports, it would be an issue for bars and restaurants.

WOOD spoke with GRUH basketball coach Brandeon Guyton who said,

Not to minimize COVID-19 and people who have lost their lives to to COVID-19, but for us, it's frustrating. How can everyone continue to say youth first? We care about kids, but not knowing the direct correlation sports has on kids' mental health, the direct correlation sports has on student athlete academics.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has put a lot of new restrictions on school sports after the announcement of the new strain of COVID-19 that has now hit state is said to be much more lethal and contagious than the current strain we have been dealing with.

Whitmer said in her latest briefing on COVID-19, "the seriousness of it and the highly contagious aspect to this variant, it's important that we keep watching the numbers."

There have already been cases of the this new variant of COVID-19 in Washtenaw County and even the University of Michigan has had to hit the pause button on their undefeated season.

Whitmer went on to say that, "I understand the concern that parents and athletes have and their desire to re-engage."

There is a group of parents, athletes and coaches that go by the name of Let Them Play who will be at the state capitol on Saturday for a scheduled protest. There are even talks of a lawsuit against the state of Michigan.

KEEP READING: See how sports around the world have been impacted by the coronavirus

More From Magic 104.9