City Of Peoria Statement Regarding The IHSA Tournament,

From the City of Peoria:

March 12, 2020

The city of Peoria, Peoria County, and local health officials continue to review the information from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as it relates to COVID-19. After thorough discussions withlocal health officials, City and County leadership, and representatives from IHSA and the St. Patrick’s Society, it has been decided that the IHSA basketball games will restrict the number of fans to the immediate families of the players and that the March Madness Experience will be cancelled. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be postponed to a later date.

Mayor Jim Ardis stated, “The decisions regarding IHSA and the parade were critical with several points of influence involved in the final conclusion. It is in the best interest of everyone that these measures are taken to minimize the potential to further spread COVID-19.”

According to Dr. Gregg Stoner, Medical Director for the Peoria City/County Health Department, “With no COVID-19 cases identified in the region, it is still important to limit the spread of the virus withmeasures such as limiting or canceling larger scale activities as an important preventative measure. This situation is evolving and being assessed continuously.”

The public is asked to continue to take the precautions that have been outlined by the CDC, including avoiding close contact with people who are sick, cleaning your hands often, covering coughs and sneezes, and continue to avoid touching your face. Also, those individuals that are high risk, should take additional precautions to decrease exposure.

As the COVID-19 response continues, the public should expect to see other policies including hospital and nursing home visitor restriction, cancellations of other activities and school closures.

For the most updated information, please refer to the CDC’s website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Or Peoria City/County Health Department COVID-19 page https://www.pcchd.org/COVID-19

This press release was produced by the City of Peoria. The views expressed here are the author’s own.