County under Governor Bullock's mask mandate

After reporting one case of COVID-19 in Carter County early last week, the Carter County COVID-19 Task Force reported a total of three active cases last Wednesday.

At an emergency meeting that evening, school board members voted to close Ekalaka Public Schools until 4 p.m. on Friday. All high school and junior high activities, including volleyball games scheduled for Thursday in Jordan, were canceled. After the school reopened, Friday night’s varsity football game versus Forsyth and Saturday’s volleyball games versus Circle were permitted.

On Saturday morning, a fourth active case was announced, putting the county at the four-active-case threshold for the governor’s mask mandate enacted July 15.

By 7 p.m. on Saturday, after completing an extensive amount of contact tracing, there were seven confirmed active cases of COVID-19 in Carter County.

On Sunday evening, the school board held another emergency meeting to discuss COVID-19 procedures and the schools’ health and safety plan. Ekalaka Public Schools opened for regular session on Monday.

On Monday, the task force announced that contact tracing for the confirmed cases was nearing completion. On Tuesday afternoon, the number of active cases in the county dropped from seven to six, meaning that 1 individual was considered recovered.

Junior high football resumed activity and played their final game of the season in Buffalo on Tuesday. Junior high volleyball games scheduled for this weekend have been canceled. High school practices resumed on Monday and the high school volleyball team will play in Baker on Saturday. CCHS football is on a scheduled bye week.

No demographics on the seven Carter County that have tested positive were given. The county remains under the governor’s mask mandate until there are fewer than four active cases.