The 2020 Wyoming High School Activities Association 3A and 4A State Basketball Championships will continue, but the atmosphere will be vastly different.

WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird, Casper Events Center General Manager Brad Murphy, WHSAA Board of Directors, and other personnel met Thursday morning as the concern over the coronavirus continues.

Laird admitted it's changing by the minute.

"We've been instructed by the Wyoming Department of Health that we are not to have any spectators at the rest of the tournament."

Laird went on to say, "We did meet with as many board members (WHSAA Board of Directors) as we could pull together to make a decision whether we should continue without fans or just cancel it. Postponing's really not an option for us with facilities and not knowing how long that postponement would be. At this point, we're going to continue the tournament with the players."

The only people in a facility will be anyone directly with a team, players, coaches, managers, and trainers, plus each school will have one administrator. There will be no fans allowed at all.

Laird added, "This includes no parents, which we tried to barter for a little bit, but no parents, no media. We are going to allow our video stream (on the NFHS Network) to continue, so people will have an option to be able to see the games. At this point, that's where we're at."

He went on to say it may change as we go.

There's a press conference at 10:30 with the Wyoming Department of Health.

How quickly do things change? Laird told WyoPreps by phone on Wednesday night that they are aware of concerns and are in communication with the Wyoming Department of Health over the present status of COVID-19 in the state. At that time, the plan was to move forward with games as normal, but every precaution is being taken to ensure the health and safety of the public with the coronavirus.

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