After two weeks in quarantine, the Brown County High School boys basketball team will be returning to the court this week to practice ahead of their first game Dec. 22.
The entire team and coaches were placed on quarantine Dec. 2 after a player attended a practice Dec. 1 and found out he had tested positive the next day.
Student athletes are required to self-screen every morning, like other students and families are required to do under the school district’s COVID-19 return-to-school plan. No additional screening measures happen after the traditional school day, Superintendent Laura Hammack said last week.
The team’s first game will be away against Columbus Christian School on Dec. 22.
Other teams have been allowed to play in the meantime, including the high school girls basketball team.
However, the number of people able to watch any school sporting event in person will continue to be limited depending on what color the county is on the state’s COVID-19 metrics map.
Currently, the county is deemed orange by the Indiana State Department of Health. However, the Brown County Health Department has deemed that the county will operate under red status.
“I think the county color code is a concerning metric at this point because of the lagging data. The fact that test results are taking so long to come in, we are really practicing as red right now even though the county is orange,” Hammack said.
Under red status, admission to games is limited to 35 people, including practices. Only participants and support personnel will be allowed to be there.
If the county moves to a different color, the district will operate under the stricter status for two weeks after that change.
Under orange restrictions, 50 people will be allowed to attend, meaning parents and guardians can also be in the building alongside players and support staff.
Under yellow or blue restrictions, attendance will be limited to 275 people.
Because of the limits on spectators, the school district will now live-stream games on YouTube. The first was Dec. 8 for the girls basketball games. The broadcasts can be found on the “Official Brown County Schools Media” YouTube page.
“We’re going to be able to offer that to not just our families, but our community,” Hammack told the school board on Dec. 3.
“This will probably be one of those things we will do from now on into the future that we’ll kind of say to ourselves, ‘Boy, remember back when we didn’t live-stream our events?’ Now that will probably just be something we would do as a matter of course.”
District leaders put together a five-page sports season plan which outlines protocols for keeping social distance in the stands and on the court.
Team benches and bleachers will be marked for social distancing with additional rows and chairs to be available if needed.
Before arriving to play at a school in Brown County, each person will be required to screen, including taking temperatures and answering COVID exposure questions. Once at Brown County schools, visiting athletes and coaches will complete a screening questionnaire given by BCS staff.
The plan also outlines protocols for the officials table, sanitizing and mask requirements, and sanitizing game balls and the restrooms.
Cloth face coverings will be required for players, spectators and coaches at all times “unless participating in strenuous activity,” like running on the basketball court, the plan states.
An online presale ticket system will gather all spectators’ names and phone numbers for contact tracing if needed.
Visitor tickets will also be limited and the opposing schools will be required to send the district a list of visiting spectators’ names and phone numbers for contact tracing.
Visitors and home spectators are to be kept separated as much as possible, with sections of the bleachers marked for them. Home and visitor guests will also use separate entrances.
The plan also states that family units can sit with each other, but must remain six feet from other families sitting together. Hand sanitizing stations will be placed at the entrances and other locations in the Larry C. Banks Memorial Gymnasium.
Pre-packaged food will be sold at the concession stand. Six-feet lines will be marked for walk-up ticket sales, the bathrooms and the concession stands.
