Cancellation of sports events is already happening elsewhere and it's only a matter of time before it happens here too. All Italian sport has been cancelled until at least 3rd April and the Indian Wells (Southern California) tennis tournament, the world's biggest outside of the Grand Slams, due to start today was postponed at barely 24 hours notice. Despite everything being said to the contrary I think the Olympic Games could well be a casualty also. Oh and you can forget music festivals altogether. While I agree that some of the reaction to Covid-19 looks over the top the reality is that much of what we consider normal life, certainly as far as recreation goes, will have to be put on hold. The researchers are hard at it but we're at least 12 months away from a viable vaccination programme. Until then...
I can possibly understand the rationale for cancelling international events but not domestic sport when the schools remain open and public transport is still operating. If the games are played behind closed doors people will go and crowd into pubs to watch it there, which sounds worse...
From the WHO reports from China and Korea transmission seems to be almost exclusively within families who are caring for sick relatives. Very close contact. People aren’t becoming infected by contact in the wider community often, at the shops etc. In that case banning public gatherings will have little effect, as seems to be occurring in Italy. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen as the government may want to be seen to be doing something, even if there’s no scientific evidence to support the measures...