Coronavirus Latest: Delaware Special Olympics Makes 'Best Decision For Everybody' By Canceling Summer Games
MIDDLETOWN, Del. (CBS) -- Across the country, summer sports programs are facing some tough choices because of the coronavirus. One of them is the Special Olympics.
The Delaware Special Olympics organization made the difficult decision to cancel the Summer Games -- so have many state and regional Special Olympics groups.
They say health and safety is the most important thing.
CBS3 spoke with Mary Jo Gilligan in Middletown on Wednesday. Her 16-year-old daughter Amanda was training to compete in powerlifting.
"We miss everybody. We miss seeing everybody every Sunday. We're going to miss participating in those awesome Summer Games," Gilligan said. "But again, they just made the best decision for everybody. A lot of our athletes have significant health issues. There's no other option they could have taken."
Amanda and her teammates were enjoying training every Sunday, but they had to stop training at the gym about one month ago. It just wasn't safe due to the coronavirus.
Then on Tuesday, word came that the games were called off.
Special Olympics Delaware was also supposed to have an annual Torch Run. They say they are planning a virtual challenge to replace it.