“I feel bad for the kids, but I don’t feel like we should be directing our anger toward kids who have the ability to play” sports involving less physical contact, Brosseau said. “I don’t feel protests should occur at anyone’s home. I’m not suggesting they shouldn’t happen, but they should happen at the courthouse, where decisions are made.”

She added, “I don’t support all of his decisions but I support his role as a parent.”

As for Page, Brosseau said she felt his decisions might be more widely accepted if he stood with pediatricians and epidemiologists at his news conferences to help communicate the scientific basis for them. “I want to hear from someone who is connected to infectious diseases.”

She said she thinks families should be able to decide whether their kids play sports with high frequency of contact. “We need to be given that capability to make a decision.”

Also on Friday, lawyer Albert Watkins threatened to file a lawsuit against the county on behalf of a Pattonville High School senior and, he said, perhaps hundreds of other young athletes, if the county did not reverse course by the end of the day.

The student is the son of Paul Berry III, a Republican who is one of three candidates challenging Page, a Democrat, for county executive on Nov. 3.