As high school sports programs began to plan their fall season, there are still a lot of details to work out. Last week Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued a public order on sporting events; at Tuesday's press briefing, he clarified the rules on how many people can attend events at schools.
"We're trying to get a balance here. We want our young people to play sports for all the reasons that we know sports are important. We want families to be able to be there to support them. But we also want to be able to limit the spread."
For outdoor events the limit on spectators is 15-hundred or 15 percent of fixed, permanent seating capacity. For indoor events its 300, or 15 percent of capacity, with six foot social distance between family groups.
DeWine says smaller schools who can develop a plan that honors the spirit of the order can apply to their local and state health departments for a variance to those numbers. Host schools will be responsible for enforcing regulations on social distancing, and preventing congregating. Variances cannot be used to expand the number of spectators beyond the families of students involved.
