With Indiana high school sports’ winter season beginning next week with girls basketball, local health officers’ attention shifts as well. All winter sports are played indoors, where as in fall sports, volleyball is the lone indoor sport.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that indoor activities increase the risk of spread of COVID-19 and recommends people avoid attending indoor events, if possible.

In Indiana where basketball is king and a regular Friday night game can gather thousands of people at a high school gym, health officers shared their worries with congregation of large crowds in an indoor setting.

“If it’s outdoors, you have diffusion, so that lowers the risk. You have wind that ensures air circulation and most importantly, you have ultraviolet light, which kills the virus. All those things conspire to lower concentration of the virus,” Floyd County health officer Dr. Tom Harris said. “Indoors, you don’t have that. Most gyms have pretty good air circulation, but it’s not outdoors. They’re jammed into a fairly small space.”