Statement For Coronavirus and Youth Convention
Hey guys, I just wanted to put out another statement to you all so you can share this with your parents, students and leadership. We are monitoring the coronavirus situation closely as it pertains to our Youth Convention and Fine Arts event taking place this weekend March 13-15.
As of 9pm on Wednesday night WE ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH OUR PLANNED EVENT OF FINE ARTS AND YOUTH CONVENTION. I have stayed in touch with our National office, as well as other State Youth Leaders who are having similar events this weekend around the nation. ALL are planning to have their events this weekend. We are taking as many precautions as possible to help. Hand washing, hand sanitizing stations, no physical contact, etc…
At this point the only way that we will cancel this event is one of two ways.
#1 is if our State Officials ban large gatherings in the city of Loveland or Larimer County. Tonight Governor Polis said, “The State of Emergency declaration shouldn’t lead people to believe that Colorado is NOT open for business, recreation or tourism,” and said he believed it was the opposite – that the declaration would provide reassurances that the state is taking “every step to protect the spread of the virus and the most-vulnerable.”
#2 is if the hotel we are meeting in decides to stop any and all events on the property. As of now the hotel does not have any plans to stop events in their event center.
We respect the right of any church that decides to not attend Fine Arts and Youth Convention, however, we also understand that only 33 cases exist in all of Colorado. We will not make a decision based on fear, we will make a decision based on facts and thoughtful consideration.
There are a lot of moving parts to this decision. I will keep my attention on our state news, information from our Governors office and much communication between our Superintendent, Gene Roncone. Thank you for your prayers as we navigate these decisions. Again, Our plan is to move forward with this event just as we have planned and continue to monitor details as they arise.
I have included a link to an official statement from our Network Office with links and tips. http://www.agspe.org/corona.pdf