Amid fears of a coronavirus outbreak in the US, the Arnold Sports Festival announces it will screen all athletes.
The Arnold Sports Festival has announced that for the first time in the competition/expo’s history, a medical team directed by Mount Carmel Health System will screen all of its athletes for signs and symptoms of the coronavirus. That would require screening of approx. 22 thousand athletes.
The Arnold Sports Festival brings athletes from over 80 countries to compete in over 80 events. The expo itself expects to have more than 200 thousand visitors to Columbus, OH. These visitors often come from all across the world.
Communications director Brent LaLonde states that despite the screenings, all events will run as usual with no interruptions. He also states that with exception to a few athletes from China who are not to attending due to the travel ban, nearly all other participants plan to compete.
“We haven’t felt an impact,” He said. “We haven’t heard concerns from any sports groups yet as we go into the weekend. It’s something we are monitoring. We will be communicating best practices and good hygiene with our attendees.”
The Arnold Sports Festival also made clear that there will be more hand santizing stations, four EMT locations and a first aid room open to all in attendance. The Ohio Department of Health is urging anyone who is sick to stay home.
The Arnold Sports Festival is celebrating its 32nd year and brings in a huge boost to the local economy every year. More than $54 million is expected to be spent in Columbus due to the Arnold Sports Festival. With the recent downward spiral of the stock market this week due to coronavirus concerns, it’s good to know that while the event is taking extra precautions, it will still be operating in full swing.
This news comes after the FIBO fitness expo announced it would postpone until the second half of 2020. As well as many other public events being cancelled especially in the tech field including Shopify’s developer conference, Google News Initiative Global Summit, and multiple Facebook global summits.
With only one week until the Arnold Sports Festival and Arnold Classic bodybuilding competitions – there is still time for things to evolve with the spread of the coronavirus. The virus is now present in over 50 countries across the globe – many confirmed cases only appearing over the last week.
Generation Iron will continue to monitor this story as it develops.
