Special Olympics Dare County has canceled all practices and events through the month of March.
“Due to recent developments tied to the global spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), including a case tied to a U.S. Special Olympics athlete, and the heightened risks for people with intellectual disabilities (due to a larger number having compromised immune systems/health conditions) and the elderly, Special Olympics International (SOI) has taken the position to advise us to suspend all sport training and competition activities and other activations involving our athletes through March 31, 2020,” the group said in a statement.
Special Olympics officials say they are following advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Gov. Roy Cooper’s announcement of the state of emergency. All event organizers are asked to cancel any events bringing people of high risk together.
Unified Champion Schools activities happening within the schools will not be impacted by this decision. All will be determined, rather, by the associated school district and will follow their direction.
“At this time, planning for all events after March 31 are continuing as usual. We will of course let you all know if anything changes with this. By the end of March, the situation will be reevaluated by SOI,” the statement said.
This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.