COTA to ‘Continue as Scheduled’ Amid Austin Coronavirus Order

Photo: John Dagys

This weekend’s SRO America season-opener at Circuit of The Americas will “continue as scheduled” despite the city of Austin and Travis County officials having declared a “local state of disaster” due to coronavirus concerns.

The announcement made by local authorities on Friday has banned public events that have 2,500 or more people unless “mitigation plans for infectious diseases” are in place, according to reports from FOX7 Austin and the New York Times.

SXSW, the city’s annual technology, film and music festival that was set to begin on March 16, has been the most notable event to have been canceled due to the new local government mandate.

In a statement provided to Sportscar365, SRO America has stressed that this weekend’s event, which officially began on Friday prior to the restrictions being announced by local authorities, will still go ahead as planned.

It’s unclear if there has been any communication from city officials to SRO or COTA about this matter.

“We continue to monitor updates from Austin’s health authority with regards to coronavirus and public events,” the SRO America statement read.

“Racing this weekend will continue as scheduled. City and county officials have stressed that Austin has not had an outbreak and that the number of confirmed cases in Texas is relatively small.”

It’s unclear how many tickets COTA has sold for the event, although fans have been in the paddock Saturday.

Texas has a total of 19 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with no deaths at this time. Austin does not have a reported case.

Among other sporting events occurring this weekend in Austin include the University of Texas men’s and women’s basketball games, according to the NY Times report.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John