It was encouraging to see Powell students return to school last week, and it’s been almost as uplifting to see prep athletes take to the courts, pools, fields and courses in recent weeks.

In a year that’s brought plenty of disappointments, a fall without youth sports would have been a bitter blow.

Of course, depending on how things go, it still remains possible that the fall season could be cut short. That’s why we’d encourage everyone to do their part to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in connection with prep events.

When the Wyoming High School Activities Association announced in late July that fall sports would begin on time, the organization noted the situation could change — and called on everyone to join together to make a full fall sports season a reality.

“It will take all of us, including parents and the students, doing our part to make this fall successful,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.

Added WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird, “This is going to take a concerted effort by all involved. The focus is on providing the opportunity for the kids.”

There’s no mistaking the fall of 2020 for a normal season: Students are being split into smaller groups for practices, competitions have been modified to reduce contact between athletes, event workers are generally being required to wear face coverings and gloves, etc., etc.

Some of the many precautions might seem silly or overkill. As Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin recently put it, the risk posed to healthy children by COVID-19 is “negligible.”

However, the bigger problem comes when younger, healthier people serve as COVID-19 carriers, unknowingly passing the virus to others more vulnerable to becoming seriously ill or even dying from the disease. Plus, the virus is something best avoided, as it can pose a serious threat to anyone and medical experts remain uncertain about its long-term effects.

Infections among athletes remain not so much a question of if, but when — and how to handle them. For example, Friday’s Powell-Riverton “froshmore” football was called off because a Riverton freshman might have been exposed to an infected student earlier in the week. However, the freshman had no contact with the varsity squad, so that game was able to go forward as scheduled Friday night. It wound up being a win for not only the Panthers, but for good planning.

Of course, the COVID-19 concerns aren’t just limited to the players on the field: Large athletic events bring the risk of an infected person or people spreading the novel coronavirus to numerous others in one fell swoop. That’s why state health officials are continuing to limit the size of groups, particularly indoors.

While not quite letting us get back to our normal lives, there are signs the current restrictions may be working. A couple of big events were cleared to go forward in Park County this summer — most notably, the Cody Stampede Rodeo — and public health officials say they didn’t see any evidence of those events accelerating the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Billin has said that’s because people generally obeyed the guidelines put in place. Whatever the reason, the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Park County has sunk from 36 in early August to just six on Sunday.

We hope community members and Panther boosters see the good news as a reason to keep up their efforts and follow the guidelines rather than as an excuse to ditch the precautions.

After a disruptive spring in which some businesses were shut down and people told to stay home, putting on a mask or keeping just a couple of extra seats between you and a fellow fan doesn’t seem like too much to ask — especially because our athletes are counting on all of us to pull together to make sure this fall season and school year is a success.