COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Crew have altered their travel plans ahead of a game against the Seattle Sounders due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak occurring in King County, where Seattle is located.
The club’s original plans were to travel to Seattle Thursday night, train there on Friday, and return to Columbus on Sunday. Now, the team will fly via charter into Seattle on Friday after training in Columbus, and will depart immediately after the game on Saturday.
“This alteration to the team’s travel plans is being done out of an abundance of caution headed into this weekend’s match,” a club spokesperson said.
The Crew added in a press release: “Major League Soccer’s task force has been monitoring the most recent developments and communicating with MLS clubs regarding appropriate measures to take as the situation continues to evolve. The health and safety of the players, staff and supporters are of utmost importance.”
The game on Saturday will continue as planned, the Sounders announced late Thursday. Though a CenturyLink Field employee was recently diagnosed with the coronavirus, the risk of exposure was still deemed as low, and the Sounders said they were taking extra safety measures for the match.
“The game’s on. We all have a job to do. We have to continue to speak with the league, and we have. We’re taking every precaution necessary. We’re charting today to Seattle. We’re chartering home immediately after the game. We’ll be in the market a short amount of time. We’ll be on a plane with just the team,” Columbus Crew head coach Caleb Porter said, “we do feel very strongly about the health and safety of our players and that’s first and foremost priority, but the game is on. We have a job to do. Until we hear differently, we’re going to do our jobs, and that’s to go win a game.”
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a press conference on March 2 that people “should start to think about avoiding large events.”
In King County, 11 people have died from coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases rose to 70 as of Thursday evening. Eight of those deaths have come from one nursing home, and federal authorities are now investigating.
Italy began playing soccer games in empty stadiums after the country suffered 12 coronavirus deaths. That number has now surpassed 100, according to the World Health Organization, and all soccer games will be played in empty stadiums until at least April 3.
“[No fans] would help us. 60,000 versus zero, that’d be great. If that’s the case that’s the case,” Porter said, “The first thing is making sure we get there safe and sound, making sure the players are safe, and if there’s a game we’re going to play the game. Our mindset right now is to play the game.”
This is a developing story and updates will be posted as more information is gathered.