FLORENCE, Ala. — Over summer, the future of high school sports was brought into question on how it would look during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics of if and when are now a reality as some school systems cancel and forfeit games over positive cases among players.

The most recent being Madison City Schools, which forfeited the Bob Jones football game against Florence on Friday.

Florence City Schools Superintendent Jimmy Shaw said the cancelation was the right decision on their part.

“I think they did, textbook, what you should do,” Shaw said. “They had an outbreak of more than four or five kids. They had a large number of students and so they contacted ADPH and it was the right thing to do to stop the game, and I think that is what the guidelines are for.”

Superintendent Shaw said he would have followed that same example for Florence City Schools as well but he’s thankful that numbers there remain low.

“To date, since August 20, we’ve had six positives in the district and that includes students and adults,” Shaw said. “I think that’s a testament to parents at home, keeping them home when students are not feeling well, and us trying to do cleaning measures as best we can.”

Shaw said the school system is now at the halfway point of the first nine-week grading period and they’ve made adjustments because of those positive cases. He said if numbers continue to rise, they will continue to make adjustments in the best interest of safety and education.

Shaw was very pleased to announce that as of September 21, there was only one positive case of COVID-19 in Florence City Schools.