If 70% of an entire team or practice group is fully or partially vaccinated, then they may apply for a waiver to go to stage 2, even if their state doesn't meet the other baseline conditions. Note that after October 22, the waiver program will go back to requiring a team to be 70% fully vaccinated.

For teams approved for a waiver by USQ, masks and social distancing are optional for outdoor and indoor practices and events. At events with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated, unvaccinated people will still have to wear masks and follow social distancing rules. We encourage teams to be supportive of players who may still wish to wear a mask even when it is not required.

Additionally, those approved for a waiver may have indoor events in a standard facility, with the same attendee and contact limits as an enhanced facility in stage 2. The return to play guidelines PDF has more information on an enhanced vs standard indoor facility.

To apply for the waiver, a coach or manager must submit this form to USQ confirming that they have verified the vaccination status of everyone in that team or practice group. The form must be submitted at least 3 business days before the team’s first in-person activity under stage 2. If a team's activity falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then the form must be submitted by the Wednesday before. This form only needs to be submitted once per team or joint team group.

USQ’s member services department will review the form and email the team back stating if they have been approved or not for the vaccine waiver. Form responses will be checked every Monday and Thursday by 8pm ET. If your team needs a faster response, please email membership@usquidditch.org with the subject line "Response needed for [Team Name] - Team Vaccination Waiver".

Per CDC guidelines, a person is considered fully vaccinated if it has been at least 14 days from the last dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or at least 2 weeks from the first dose of a single dose vaccine like Johnson & Johnson. USQ will accept any FDA-authorized vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson (J&J)/Janssen) or WHO-listed vaccines (AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinopharm). Partially vaccinated means that someone has gotten one dose of a two-dose vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna.