Provided that Brown County’s COVID-19 case numbers don’t rise this week, more fans will be allowed back into Brown County Schools home sporting events starting Wednesday, Feb. 17.

The number of people able to attend games, matches and practices has been limited this season as COVID-19 continued to spread across Brown County.

In partnership with the Brown County Health Department, Brown County Schools issued a plan for winter sports attendance in December, then updated it earlier this month. The plan is based on the color code that each county in the state is given by the Indiana State Department of Health.

As long as Brown County was under “red”-level restrictions by the ISDH — which it was until Jan. 27 — no parents or other fans were allowed at BCS home games, only players and essential support staff.

Other schools had other rules in place for games taking place in their gyms, so parents had been able to travel to see their kids’ away games in person.

Brown County is currently on “yellow” status. If it stays on yellow when the next ISDH map update comes out on Wednesday, Feb. 17, many more fans will be allowed in the building.

The new BCS winter sports plan, which the health department approved in early February, expands the number of people allowed in the gym to 50 percent of its capacity, or 1,210 people, on yellow. A previous plan, released in December, capped attendance at 250 people under yellow status.

Here are the capacity limits under this new plan:

• Blue status: 100 percent capacity, 2,420 people total
• Yellow status: 50 percent capacity, 1,210 people total
• Orange status: 25 percent capacity, 605 people total
• Red status: 35 people — participants and support personnel only

When the county changes statuses, the schools’ athletics plan will stay on the more restrictive status for two weeks post-color change. Brown County’s status changed to yellow on Feb. 3, but because of the two-week delay, the 50-percent-building-capacity rule for sports won’t go into effect until Feb. 17.

If Brown County goes up in color codes, the greater restrictions will start immediately.

The district will use an online presale ticketing system to gather all spectators’ names and phone numbers for contract tracing.

Family units can sit together, but must remain 6 feet from other family units. Bleachers will be marked to keep visitors and home guests separated as much as possible, and separate entrances will be used for home and visiting guests.

Only prepackaged concession stand items will be sold.

Per the governor’s edict, face masks covering the mouth and nose are mandatory for anyone not engaged in strenuous activity. This applies to athletes who are not competing, coaching staff members, officials table personnel and spectators.