Miami Dade County Declares State of Emergency: Officially Cancels Miami Open

The Miami-Dade County has declared a state of emergency for the county effective March 12th 2020 due to the public health threat of COVID-19 and announced that major events in the county stand canceled. This means that the Miami Open tennis event has also been canceled, as reported by TennisWorldUSA earlier. This is the first official statement from government or tennis officials on the cancelation of the event.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement, "Although we do not have community spread at this time, we want to take the preemptive steps to keep it that way. Therefore, I have decided to suspend the operation of the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair, the Miami Open tennis tournament, the MIA 5K run, and all major events at the American Airlines Arena. As we move forward together during this time, we will continue to monitor what the World Health Organization has determined is a global pandemic. We will constantly evaluate planned mass gatherings as the situation evolves. I will be making future policy decisions regarding indoor events planned for more than 250 people based on federal and state health officials’ guidance. In addition, I am recommending that smaller gatherings, if they’re not essential, also be reconsidered.”

There has been at least one confirmed case of coronavirus in a 56-year-old man in the county.

This is the second big tennis event to be canceled after the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

There are reports that the respective tennis tours, the ATP & WTA, will issue a statement on Thursday regarding events for the next few weeks. Reports indicate that the events on the tennis tours for next 6 to 10 weeks are likely to be canceled.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ICYDEl