The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday advised against any public gatherings of 50 or more people for eight weeks.
And organizers of any event, regardless of its size, should try to cancel in-person gatherings when a virtual event is feasible to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, the CDC said.
“This recommendation does not apply to the day-to-day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses,” a release from CDC states. “This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press and other news outlets reported Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, supports a 14-day national shutdown.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear he may have to order large bars and restaurants to close.
“If you go out and get in a place with 100-plus people, you frustrate those efforts” to stop the spread of the virus, he said, according to Kentucky Health News.
“If we cannot show responsible practices in how we social-distance, then I will be forced to do the same,” he said, referring to other states, including Ohio, where bars have been closed.
Beshear revealed this weekend he tested negative for COVID-19. He had attended Louisville’s Speed Ball on March 7. Another attendee later tested positive.
Kentucky Health News also reported on the governor’s call for churches to not have in-person Sunday worship.
“Asked if he had any reports on how churches had complied with his requests to cancel services, in light of reports that many did not, Beshear didn’t say, but indicated why he made the request: He said a church in Montgomery County may have helped spread the virus, and a Harrison County church was directly linked to two cases there.”
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
