National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic canceled over concerns of coronavirus
By Maddie Vincent / The Aspen Times
This year’s National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, an adaptive recreation and rehabilitation experience for hundreds of veterans that has been held in Snowmass annually for more than 30 years, has been canceled due to concerns of the spreading coronavirus disease, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The decision to cancel the five-day event, which was scheduled to start March 29, was made by top officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and conveyed to the Disabled American Veterans and other event partners late Wednesday afternoon, DAV national communications director Rob Lewis said Wednesday night.
VA officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening, but the agency is set to send out a formal statement Thursday with more information on the decision, Lewis said.
“We understand the decision was based strictly on the welfare of the VA patients,” Lewis said, emphasizing the VA made the decision and his team would be briefed fully Thursday.
The outbreak of the respiratory, flu-like disease COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2, was first detected in China in January and has now spread to nearly 70 locations internationally including the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Excerpts of the original article used by permission of The Aspen Times editorial staff.
