(8-24-20) Many were surprised last week when Adams County Health Officer Dr. Michael Ainsworth made a declaration that would shut down North Adams Schools from holding in-person classes, cancelled all extracurricular and athletic events over what was considered a ‘high rise’ in COVID 19 cases.
From August 16
Adams County ‘Hot Spot’ For COVID 19 In Indiana
Wednesday North Adams students will be back in their classes and extracurricular activities will be allowed. The mask order has also been overturned, although the state mandate will stay in place.
The other two school districts, South Adams and Adams Central did not stop extracurricular and athletics and attended classes during that time.
That is quite a turn around during this pandemic.
Stats from 8-24-20
Compare the above Adams County stats for the year compared to the chart below from today for Mercer County during the pandemic-
Monthly Mercer County COVID-19 Stats:
| Month | Number of Confirmed Cases |
| March (First case on 3/24) | 5 cases |
| April | 19 cases |
| May | 190 cases |
| June | 56 cases |
| July | 239 cases |
| August – present | 243 cases |
During this all Mercer County schools have been competing in athletics, including football this coming Friday night. All of the school districts plan to have in-class sessions to start the year.
It might be an opportune time to consider in the future how to handle situations like this one, before making a move like this one.
Mercer County Outlook 