Latest: COVID-19 Coronavirus Impact on Spring Sports at Georgia
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States was reported on January 20th, 2020 in Snohomish County, Washington and since has spread to 19 states in total as of March 12th.
Now, it's made a drastic impact on the sporting world at large. The NBA has suspended their season for the time being after the news of their first confirmed case of a player, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.
The NCAA and it's participating bodies have suspended fan attendance from sports events, restricting the participation to essential personnel only.
As for how this outbreak will affect the University of Georgia and the rest of the SEC, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released the following statement Wednesday:
"In light of recent developments beyond our control related to the spread of the coronavirus, including a recommendation from the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel, and after consultation with our member universities, we have made the difficult decision to hold the 2020 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament in Nashville without spectators beginning with games of Thursday, March 12," Sankey said. "Effective immediately, the policy will also apply to other SEC Championship events and on-campus regular season games scheduled through at least the end of March."
"After conferring with local and national health authorities, we remain confident in our ability to safeguard the health and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and other staff who will be participating as well as the limited number of family members and media who will be in attendance at the tournament.
There are no further developments or statements from the sports information department from the University of Georgia as of this Thursday morning. From our understanding, Georgia will continue to limit access to the fans until March 30th at which point there will be a reassessment of the situation involving COVID-19.
So, there will be several UGA sporting teams set to compete this week without fans in attendance:
As for the expected progression of events, as was the case with the NBA, does one confirmed case among a sporting team mean the suspension of the rest of the league?
According to the CDC, individuals can go up to 14 days before showing signs of symptoms. The constant physical interactions through the daily life of a collegiate athlete are not exactly conducive to such an occasion.
We will keep you up to date on all things surrounding COVID-19 and its impacts on Georgia sports here on BulldogMaven.com
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