Social and sporting events have been canceled, and theme parks have been closed temporarily, as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB CLOSED 2-3 WEEKS
The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club of Lawton was closed Friday “in order to properly sanitize the facility and toys,” and will remain closed through the end of this month, if not longer, Unit Director Amanda Nuñez announced.
“Territory HQ sent out a mandated policy stating that if any school we serve closes due to COVID-19, we are to close effective immediately,” she said. “Because we serve Bishop Public School, our facility will be closed until they reopen on March 30th. However, if Lawton Public Schools should choose to do the two week self-quarantine option, that would push our reopening date back to April 6th.”
Closing the club “was not a decision made by myself or our staff, but Territory HQ,” Ms. Nuñez said. “We are continuing to clean and sanitize our facility and take this time for additional training for our five-member staff.”
Cleaning and sanitizing their facility will take awhile. The building, at 14th and SW “F” Ave. in Lawton, has enough floor space to accommodate up to 300 people.
The club has 113 members, ages 4 to 18, Ms. Nuñez said.
“We were expecting 90 children for spring break camp,” and 80 are anticipated after school resumes, she said.
SOCIAL EVENTS, ENTERTAINMENT
The 10th annual Park Stomp festival scheduled in Medicine Park last weekend was canceled.
Norman’s annual Medieval Fair, scheduled for April 3, was canceled. “As a precautionary and protective measure against the spread of COVID-19, the University of Oklahoma has suspended all university related events scheduled to occur between March 14 and April 5,” the school announced. The 13th annual Norman Music Festival was postponed to Aug. 27-29.
The rock band KISS announced that the final three shows of the spring leg of its “End of the Road Tour” have been rescheduled. The show scheduled at Tulsa was rescheduled for Oct. 4.
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden closed temporarily on Saturday, to blunt the spread of the coronavirus, and tentatively plans to reopen on March 23.
To promote “social distancing” because of health concerns, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Science Museum Oklahoma with its Kirkpatrick Planetarium closed Sunday for at least two weeks. Both museums will remain closed at least through the end of March.
Frontier City suspended operations at its amusement park in Oklahoma City on Friday, through the end of this month.
Similarly, Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida have locked their gates through the end of the month.
SPORTS
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association on March 12 suspended indefinitely the state basketball tournaments in Oklahoma City and Tulsa for the five largest classes: 6A-2A.
With concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic rising, the NCAA on March 12 called off all “March Madness” spring conference tournaments and the Women’s College World Series. Earlier in the day the Big 12 Conference and the American Athletic Conference (whose members include Tulsa University) had already canceled their men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
In fact, the Big 12 Conference declared a two-week hiatus on March 12. All conference activities – including basketball, gymnastics and equestrian tournaments, as well as spring football practices – were suspended until March 29.
Two University of Tulsa football players were exposed to the coronavirus and were placed under quarantine.
The National Basketball Association announced March 11 it suspended its season “until further notice” after two players with the Utah Jazz, in Oklahoma City for a game against the Thunder, tested positive that day for the coronavirus.
Major League Baseball joined the NBA, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League in closing clubhouses to reporters and visitors at spring training camps, and on March 12 MLB canceled spring training.
The United Soccer League, whose members include both the OKC Energy FC and FC Tulsa (the club formerly known as the Roughnecks), suspended play for 30 days. Meanwhile, Major League Soccer announced March 11 that it suspended its season.
Nevertheless, apparently there was a silver lining in the dark coronavirus cloud. Stuart Varney of Fox Business reported that video gaming in China spiked since the onset of the coronavirus crisis. “This is a no brainer,” he said. “If you’re all locked in, you play some video games!”