By Natalie Anderson and Liz Moomey
news@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A number of local events throughout the county have been cancelled or postponed due to concerns of the current coronavirus outbreak.

The cancellations or delays come as Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday advised people not to host gatherings of 100 people or more to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus.

The Rowan County Chamber of Commerce has decided to cancel numerous upcoming events “in an abundance of caution.” Those events include the Power in Partnership Salute to Agri-business breakfast that was scheduled for March 19. Rowan Chamber President Elaine Spalding said the state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler is unable to travel from Raleigh to Salisbury. Attendance for that breakfast is usually around 250 people, Spalding said.

Additionally, a Military Talent Attraction event, which included a job fair, scheduled for March 20 and 21 has been cancelled.

Spalding added that the chamber is working on rescheduling all of the events. While regular meetings can be postponed until next month, big events, like the breakfast, will be determined by the committees responsible for planning those events.

She added that it’s “important during this time to support small business communities.” Large corporations can survive without income, she said, but small businesses need community support. She suggested “getting out in small groups and visiting local businesses” as they need the continued support.

Some organizations have not yet made decisions about cancelling or postponing local events but are having discussions about doing so. One of those organizations includes the North Carolina Transportation Museum. North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources public information officer Michele Walker said following the governor’s announcement on Thursday, the museum will be evaluating future events and begin making decisions and announcements on Friday.

Prior to the announcement, the museum had a suggestion on its website that advised any sick person or high-risk individual postpone attending museum events.

The Salisbury Parks and Recreation have yet to announce plans for upcoming events such as the annual Cheerwine festival, but Parks and Recreation director Nick Aceves said the options for the festival are currently being discussed.

Larissa Harper, executive director of Downtown Salisbury, Inc., said the organization is in the midst of ongoing discussions about future events downtown, such as Ring in Spring. The organization is constantly monitoring the situation, Harper said.

Already field trips have been affected by the nationwide virus outbreak. Kyle Whisenant, instructional specialist at Horizons Unlimited, had been planning a trip to tour the General Assembly led by N.C. Sen. Carl Ford, R-33, since October. Eighth graders at Corriher-Lipe Middle School were to travel to Raleigh on Wednesday for a state government day. 

But on Tuesday afternoon, the Rowan-Salisbury School System made an announcement that all out-of-county field trips were cancelled. The Raleigh trip scheduled for the next day was called off. Along with the tour of the General Assembly, the students were going to go to the N.C. Museum of History and N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

“Of course, I was disappointed,” Whisenant said. “I wanted them to have that experience. We can’t help a pandemic.”

Whisenant said, thankfully, they had not paid anything prior to the field trip.

Rita Foil, spokeswoman for RSS, said the school system is working to figure out the next steps for reimbursements or partial reimbursements for field trips that were cancelled. She said 75% of the time schools work through travel agencies to purchase tickets at a reduced rate, depending on the trip.

Because of staff scheduling, Whisenant said it would be unlikely they would be able to reschedule the trip to Raleigh by the end of the school year. But Ford plans to visit the middle school instead. The state government field trip is in its pilot period and Horizons Unlimited will plan a similar trip next year, Whisenant said.

The school system has not made any additional decisions about scheduling since canceling out of county field trips on Tuesday.

“We follow the lead of our local and state health department officials in making any calls regarding school closings because of the coronavirus,” Rowan-Salisbury Schools posted on Facebook Thursday. “Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody is meeting regularly with her emergency response team to make preparations for different scenarios, and there are regular meetings being held with our health department officials, so we stay updated on the latest news and developments.”

Read the following story for a full list of event cancellations or postponements as of Thursday afternoon: Coronavirus local event cancellations or postponements