Concerns about the rapid spread of the Coronavirus have been growing. As a result, a petition has begun to make the rounds, with the intent to cancel the Arnold Sports Festival, due to fear of the virus spreading.
BREAKING: Arnold Sports Festival Will Have No Spectators, Only Athletes Due To Coronavirus
The Arnold Sports Festival is scheduled to go down this weekend, in Columbus, Ohio. It will feature top bodybuilders, strongman athletes, powerlifters, and much more. It is one of the biggest events of the year for strength sports, and as such is extremely exciting.
However, if a certain group of petitioners get their way, the Arnold Sports Festival will be skipping a year this year. According to a petition filed on Change.org, concerns about the Coronavirus have made some believe that the event should be canceled. The petition, directed to Governor Mike DeWine, has thousands of signatures and is growing. It seems to cancel the event, to assist in any further spread of the illness. This is what a representative from the Governor’s office had to say:
“Our office is aware of the petition. The CDC has not issued any guidance on mass gatherings.
However, our guidance to any building hosting a large number of people, whether an employer, school, church, or sporting event, is to make sure handwashing stations and hand sanitizer are available and to encourage good handwashing practices.”
So will the Arnold Sports Festival get canceled?
To be honest, it is a little hard to tell at this point. There was expected to be a conference on Tuesday to discuss the situation but has since been canceled. Although it seems likely that the Arnold Sports Festival will go on without a hitch.
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Measures are being taken to help ensure as much safety as possible during the event. The athletes competing will be screened for the virus, to help in preventing issues. However, it is worth noting that this does nothing for the thousands of people attending the event live. Regardless, it is important to remember that the easiest way to help protect yourself and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, is to properly follow handwashing procedures.
Stay tuned to FitnessVolt for any further updates at the Arnold Sports Festival.
Published: 3 March, 2020 | 12:58 PM EDT
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I am more concerned with places like Disney that bring in on a daily basis people from other countries and localities. Those parks bring in hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis yet people aren’t complaining about those places as being threats. I get it, it isn’t in our backyard so that isn’t our concern per se, but if they aren’t closing because of the threat, then why should a tournament or fitness festival be the target to these ramifications. The only people that suffer in this situation are those competitors that have trained for this event and the people that love the sports. My daughter is a competitor and she will be upset if she doesn’t get to compete because she has trained hard for this.