More than 20 people who attended a two-day high school wrestling tournament in Louisiana have reported testing positive for the coronavirus, according to local health officials.
The outbreak among athletes, staff and audience members comes after about 400 wrestlers participated in the 48th Louisiana Classic wrestling event last week at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, The Advocate reported.
The Louisiana Health Department is now asking everyone who attended to be tested and self-quarantine — but it’s not stopping some schools from moving forward with other athletic events.
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association said schools are being asked to take precautions, but said several wrestling matches will go on as scheduled, the Advocate said.
“Obviously, this is extremely complicated,” association assistant executive director Adam MacDowell told the newspaper. “As soon as I get documents from the (Louisiana Department of Health), I will send it along to our member schools for further guidance.”
“What we are advising at this point, without having additional communication with the LDH, is that each individual school and school program contact their local regional health director and go through the protocols if they participated in that tournament,” MacDowell said.
“I know there are a number of dual meets and tournaments that have been canceled,” he said. “But I also know some are still in play.”
Images and videos from the Louisiana Classic show that no social distancing was being observed and, that while some spectators wore masks, many did not.