A stay at home order has been issued by Commonwealth of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam that begins effective immediately and extends through June 10.
The decision extends past the scheduled provisional resumption of the NASCAR Cup Series season on May 9 at Martinsville Speedway. That event is scheduled to be the first night race in the history of NASCAR’s oldest active facility.
The order prohibits “all public and private in-person gatherings of more than 10 individuals. … This includes parties, celebrations, religious and other social events, whether they occur indoor or outdoor.”
NASCAR issued a statement on Monday that addresses the order:
“NASCAR is aware of the stay at home order issued for Virginia. We will continue discussions with public health officials and medical experts as we assess rescheduling options.”
The last update to the schedule came on March 16 when NASCAR declared the postponement of all events through April. The following races have been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown: Atlanta, Homestead, Bristol, Texas, Richmond, Talladega and Dover.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps has stated a desire for the sanctioning body to make up all postponed events.
“For us, we have a commitment to our fans that we’re going to run all the races,” Phelps said during a March 17 media teleconference. “We have a commitment to all our competitors that we run all the races. We have a commitment to the stakeholders broadly that we’re going to run all the races.
“We are going to do everything in our power to get these races in. If there are other variables that happen that would suggest we can’t do that, we’ll look at those at that time.”
Meanwhile, North Carolina will go under its own stay at home order starting at 5 p.m. ET on Monday. That order will last through the duration of the month. With most teams operating out of the state, most shops have already closed their doors in advance of the order.
Today I’m issuing a Stay at Home order, effective immediately.
Our message to Virginians is clear—stay home. These actions are necessary to protect public health and slow the spread of #COVID19.
Learn more: https://t.co/5SDZ23yG6G
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