On the health department's recommendation, the district has asked the players to quarantine after exposure to a Calloway County High School football player who has since tested positive.
As the county's coronavirus incidence rate reached the "critical" level on a state grid, local health officials asked schools and other groups to curtail activities.
The state's color-coded system calls for schools in red zones to move to all-virtual instruction and suspend sports and other extracurricular activities until they can get to the yellow zone, meaning they have 1 to 10 cases per 100,000 people daily.
Christian County Public Schools announced the district would not comply with the county health director's request to temporarily halt athletics and extracurricular activities.
Kayla Bebout called on residents to discontinue social gatherings, sporting events and extracurricular activities. A spokesman for the school system said the district would not follow that advice.
County Health Director Kayla Bebout advised the school district to follow the guidance for remote instruction when the county's incidence rate went into the critical red level as defined by the state Department of Education and the Department of Public Health.
