BALTIMORE, MD — Nobody will be in the stands watching the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament at Johns Hopkins University this weekend. The athletic department decided that the games will be played without spectators, after the first three cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Maryland.
The Homewood campus is hosting the initial rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament Friday and Saturday afternoons.
“In light of Maryland’s recently confirmed cases of COVID-19, and based on CDC guidance for large gatherings, we have determined that it is prudent to hold this tournament without spectators,” Johns Hopkins Athletics said in a statement on its website.
The university posted its decision late Thursday evening, hours after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that three people in Maryland had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
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Johns Hopkins athletic officials said they were conferring with public health authorities to assess large events on a case-by-case basis and had not made any decisions about events other than the NCAA Division III basketball tournament games.
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Although fans cannot watch the basketball tournament inside the Goldfarb Gymnasium at Hopkins, the university will livestream the games online.
In the tournament games at the school, Yeshiva University will face off against Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 2 p.m. Friday. Penn State Harrisburg will take on Johns Hopkins at 7 p.m. The winners of Friday’s games will play at 5 or 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
The DoubleTree by Hilton in Pikesville canceled the Yeshiva University team’s hotel reservation Thursday, Maccabees’ coach told the Associated Press. While a student at the university in New York City had tested positive for the virus, an executive with Yeshiva University told the AP that the student was not part of the team, which the New York City health department had cleared for the tournament.
Yeshiva University reported Friday morning that a rabbi who is a professor teaching two courses at the university has also been diagnosed with the new coronavirus.
This is not the first time that games in Baltimore have been played without fans.
After the civil unrest that followed the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Orioles closed Camden Yards to fans during an April 2015 game against the Chicago White Sox, and it moved another game to Florida.
In September 2019, a high school in Anne Arundel County barred fans from its football games near Fort Meade following a shooting.
According to NBC Sports, professional sports leagues around the world are considering livestreaming games and holding them in empty stadiums amid concerns about the new coronavirus.
Globally, more than 101,000 confirmed cases have been reported and over 3,400 people have died from the new coronavirus, Johns Hopkins reported Friday afternoon. More than 80,000 cases of the new coronavirus are in China. The United States had about 260 confirmed cases and 14 deaths from the new coronavirus as of Friday afternoon, the data showed.
The new coronavirus was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.
Symptoms are fever, cough, difficulty breathing and pneumonia, resulting in anything from mild respiratory issues to death. Those with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer appear to be at higher risk of infection.
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The new coronavirus spreads between those closer than 6 feet apart through respiratory droplets when a person who is infected coughs or sneezes and the droplets get into the mouths or noses of others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Maryland health officials recommend hand-washing as a way to protect against the spread of viruses in general, including influenza and the new coronavirus. People should also keep their hands away from their eyes and mouth; stay home when sick; and cough or sneeze into a tissue.
Visit the Maryland Health Department’s coronavirus page or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s coronavirus disease situation summary for additional information and resources.