ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOV.com) — St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page is defending COVID- 19 restrictions that don’t allow student-athletes of moderate or high impact sports to play competitively.

Page has said the county is doing what it needs to do to protect kids and teenagers, stating the positivity rate for COVID-19 among teens in the county is 20 percent.

According to him, the county health department’s data shows evidence of transmission within sports teams and he said some area teams have quarantined as a result of exposure.

“This is not designed to hurt the kids, but to protect them,” Page said.

That data appears to differ from that of the county’s youth sports task force, as it said in a statement Sunday evening it isn’t aware of any cases of COVID-19 spread through youth sports.

“They don’t have access to the same data,” Page said when asked why there’s a discrepancy in the data

Page said the health department cannot release private health information, including those who have tested positive for COVID-19. He also said he has heard of situations where people are being pressured not to report infections or exposures if it means a team may have to quarantine. 

“I don’t think that’s a good practice,” he said.

The task force said it meets weekly with city and county officials to discuss the landscape of youth sports and Page has not taken part, which Page confirmed Monday morning. 

“I can’t meet with everyone,” he said. “I will not be meeting with the task force. Our county health experts are doing a fine job.”

When asked if he anticipates fall sports taking place in the near future, Page said he couldn’t give a definitive answer. The task force said it is optimistic moderate and high-contact sports will begin competitive play in the coming weeks.

The task force  released the following statement following Monday morning’s briefing:

“Our Task Force is scheduled to meet again tomorrow morning to review current trends and experiences we are observing throughout the Region.  Depend on this data, we will then make the determination to update the recommendations for the region.  We can touch base tomorrow afternoon to see what was determined as next steps.”