Winter sports at risk as coronavirus cases keep rising

Up 41-points to 3,626.

Across north alabama -- numerous schools are moving to virtual learning as coronavirus case numbers continue to rise.

In morgan county -- decatur city schools reports 33 active cases among teachers and students.... waay 31's max cohan joins us live from decatur after talking to district officials about how this increase in cases could impact the appoaching winter sports season.

Max?

Guys, while the district has said there are currently no plans for the entire school system to go virtual -- and athletic director watt parker said today that it is their plan to continue playing even if the switch is made -- but he said even that plan could change at any time.

"we are gonna go full speed ahead until we have to stop.

And if we've got to stop it, we'll stop it."

As winter sports begin to ramp up -- coronavirus numbers are causing concern....all year decatur city schools has been working to put plans in place to keep sports like basketball and football in action.

Both of the district's high schools were able to play their entire football schedules without any cancelations -- but parker said that won't be the case with basketball.

"i believe indoor sports is going to be a little more hit and miss than outdoor sports for sure, and of course you can look nationally and state wide but you know our numbers are going up as well and so it's going to impact us... we're gonna lose kids, i mean we are losing kids, we've already lost some games at the sub-varsity level already."

The districts recently released winter sports plan outlines guidelines for fans that include masking when within six feet of members of a different household and restricting access to the floor level of the gym...tickets will also only be sold online and only to about 20 percent capacity.

Teams will be spaced and expected to keep their distance when not on the court -- sanitizing and disinfecting whenever possible.

"i don't know, i'm kind of a positive person, i expect good things to happen so i'm going to prepare for good things to happen.

Now we've got plans in place for not so good things to happen, but we're going to go forward just like it's all going to work out.

If it works out, great.

If it doesn't, if they tell us we have to stop, then we have to stop."

Parker said student- athletes in quarantine will obviously have a larger impact on teams with smaller rosters but noted that winter sports schedules are more flexible and said teams will likely reschedule games instead of forefeiting them.

Live in decatur, max cohan, waay 31