Liz Copan/ ecopan@summitdaily.com | Summit Daily News
On the heels of X Games Aspen 2020, ESPN announced on Monday that X Games Chongli 2020 in China will be postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus concerns.
In the statement, ESPN wrote “the safety of our athletes, staff and spectators is our top priority, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation.”
ESPN did not specify a date for reschedule, only saying it will be “at a later date.” X Games Chongli was scheduled for Feb. 21-23 at the Secret Garden ski resort in the Chongli district within the city of Zhangjiakou, which is in northeast China northwest of Beijing.
Coronoviruses are a well-known family of viruses that appear across the world. There are six different species of them that are known to cause infections in people. This new virus, the 2019 Wuhan novel coronavirus, makes seven. Colorado health officials said the novel coronavirus is not as worrisome as the current flu season.
As of Tuesday, Chinese health officials said they have observed nearly 2,800 cases of the infection. At least 80 have died throughout Asia since the disease’s first cases Jan. 1.
As of Tuesday, there were no confirmed cases of the 2019 Wuhan novel coronavirus, abbreviated as 2019-nCoV, in Colorado, though the Centers for Disease Control reported Monday there are five cases in the U.S. More than 100 suspected cases are being investigated in 26 states. Tests of a suspected case of the virus in the Denver area came back negative.