Maricopa County supervisor calling for pause in youth sporting events as COVID-19 cases surge

As people travel to Arizona from all over the country to compete in youth sporting events during the holiday season, one Maricopa County Supervisor is calling for a stop to the events, as the state sees a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Teams from many other states are coming to Arizona to play, because their states do not allow these kinds of competitions, but Supervisor Steve Gallardo wants to put a time out on this for 30 days.

Gallardo says over the weekend, he drove around and searched on the internet, and came across dozens of tournaments taking place across Maricopa County. Many of these events are being held at city, town, and school properties, and are scheduled through December.

Gallardo says many times, the proper guidelines, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, were not being followed. Now, Gallardo is calling on the leaders in those cities to put a halt to these kinds of events, so that Arizona can get the pandemic under control, in order to help first responders as they fight the virus.

"We need to say, 'wait a minute, folks. We understand the willingness to go on the field to get some type of normalism, but this is not the time,'" said Gallardo. "Let’s take a 30-day time out. Let's get us into the new year, then we can return to the field. This is a matter of life and death.:

Gallardo says he has already sent a number of emails to local mayors, and says the next step is checking with the county’s legal team to see what they can do about shutting these down, and if that would be in their jurisdiction to do so.

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RELATED: Is it the flu, a cold or COVID-19? Different viruses present similar symptoms

COVID-19 resources

CDC Website for COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus

https://espanol.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html (In Spanish/En Español)

AZDHS Website for COVID-19

https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php#novel-coronavirus-home

https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/es/covid-19/index.php#novel-coronavirus-home (In Spanish/En Español)