New attendance guidelines mean a few more fans will have an opportunity to see high school athletics played across this area this fall.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine amended existing COVID-19 orders Tuesday to allow for adjusted capacity to gathering limits while keeping in place mitigation efforts such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.

Attendance limits are now based on a sliding scale based on the venue’s maximum capacity.

Palmerton Area School District approved updated guidelines Tuesday night that allow for up to 500 people in its athletic stadium, 215 people inside its high school gymnasium, 60 people in its junior high school gymnasium and 147 people in its auditorium. The numbers do not refer to just fans as they still include players, coaches, officials, game workers, etc.

Palmerton’s board also gave its superintendent. Dr. Jodi Frankelli, the ability to adjust those numbers in between board meetings, should the governor release new guidelines at any point.

Before the change, Palmerton was allowing only parents of senior Bomber players, band members and cheerleaders in the stands at home varsity football games, while giving tickets to family members of home and visiting players for soccer and field hockey contests. No fans were permitted inside the gymnasium for volleyball matches.

“For varsity football, we are now giving four tickets to each home football player, band member and cheerleader,” Palmerton Athletic Director Kyle Porembo said.

Starting with Friday night’s home game against Northwestern Lehigh, all four family members must arrive and check in together at the ticket booth entrance, giving the name of the participant prior to entering the stadium. Security will be present during this process and gates will open at 5:45 p.m. A face covering will be required to enter and move about the stadium. Families are expected to sit in marked areas on the home side bleachers and distance themselves from other spectators.

Lehighton

Lehighton Area School District is increasing its allotment for varsity football games to three tickets for each member of the team, band and cheerleading squad.

There will be no restrictions on Lehighton attendance for boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer and field hockey. Spectators must socially distance and wear a mask when moving about the stadium.

Lehighton volleyball will still have some minor restrictions in place. All home fans are welcome to attend, but visiting teams will be limited to two tickets per participant.

Pleasant Valley

The Pleasant Valley School District is allowing an attendance of up to 25% of the capacity of the high school gymnasium, which is 356 people, and 625 people at the stadium. This number includes the essential personnel (all of the players, coaches, athletic trainers, videographers, administration and others required to have the event), the home spectators and two passes for each of the visiting athletes and coaches. Everyone wanting to attend must have an entry pass in order to be on the premises, except for varsity cross country and girls’ tennis.

There are protocols for attendance of athletic events. Everyone will have their temperature checked before entering the gymnasium, but not for attendance at the stadium since it is outdoors. If a person’s temperature is higher than 100.4 degrees, then the person will be asked to leave. Families may sit together, but they must be socially distanced from others in both the gymnasium and the stadium. Masks must be worn in the gymnasium and the stadium. Spectators are asked to stay in their seating area and only leave to use the restroom.

More information can be found on the school district’s website, www.pvbears.org.

Panther Valley

Panther Valley had been operating at 25% capacity for sporting events including participants. Priority is given to parents of participants.

The district will continue to allow 25% for outdoor sporting events, while reducing capacity to 20 percent for indoor sporting events.

Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe plans to allow 25% of its spectator capacity for outdoor sporting events and 20% for indoor events.

The capacity for outdoor events is 375, and 300 for events in the high school gym.

The increased capacity will go into effect starting with Monday’s home volleyball game.

Northern Lehigh

Northern Lehigh is using demographic data from its Student Information Software System to distribute ticket/passes to varsity football players, varsity cheerleaders and marching band members of the nuclear family.

The district has been giving out two passes for each varsity football player, varsity cheerleader and marching band member and add sibling passes that are listed in its SIS that are not currently a member of the varsity football team, varsity cheerleading team or marching band.

The district only has one football game left so far, according to Superintendent Matthew J. Link.

“We are still making decisions about winter sports and indoor gatherings,” Link said. “So far, the community has been extremely cooperative in following our health and safety protocols, and we greatly appreciate their efforts.”

Tamaqua

Superintendent Ray Kinder said the district is not making any changes to its allotment procedures.

“With our current allotment of tickets we are fairly close to our max numbers anyway, so any change would be minimal,” Kinder said. “Without a home game for another two weeks, we don’t have to make any decisions right now anyway.”

Terry Ahner, Justin Carlucci, Kristine Porter and Chris Reber contributed to this report.