ATLANTA — In a shocking announcement, the NCAA said Wednesday, that March Madness games would be played without fans in attendance, due to concerns about the Coronavirus.
Outside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of the Final Four, fans were shocked.
"It's a little disappointing. And it'll be weird to watch on TV without fans," said Jaylen Hunter.
Hunter was on his way to the Hawks game, which turned out, to be the last game before the NBA suspended its season.
But just feet away from MBS and State Farm Arena, another event plans to go on as scheduled on Thursday.
"We've implemented a policy where before you can go onto the floor, you have to use hand sanitizer. And we're going to monitor that," said Scott Shelar, President and CEO of the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia.
CEFGA's annual CareerExpo expects 6,000 high school students from across the state at the Georgia World Congress Center.
The goal of the fair is to connect high school students with potential employers in the construction field.
Shelar says after consulting with the State Department of Public Health and the schools they decided to continue the event.
Out of 200 schools planning to attend, Shelar says only a handful have canceled.
"That was an indication to us that the schools were fine with coming. The parents were fine with sending them. So we felt like it was our obligation to give them a great event," said Shelar.
Along with the rule about using hand sanitizer, handshakes will also be banned. Instead, Shelar says, attendees will be encouraged to use fist and elbow bumps.
In Georgia, the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains low, according to officials. At 11Alive, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.11Alive.com/Coronavirus.
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