First major event of Phase 2 set at Convention Center. Gymnasts from 10 states coming to town
The first major event for the City of Tacoma since moving into Phase 2 of the state’s Roadmap to Recovery was announced Friday.
The Charity Choice Invitational Gymnastics competition is scheduled for the Greater Tacoma Convention Center Feb. 12-15.
It will be the first major event at the convention center since the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions last March.
The event is set to draw 3,000 people to Tacoma and the region from 10 states.
The event will not be open to the public.
According to Friday’s announcement from Travel Tacoma – Mt. Rainier Tourism and Sports, the event will “strictly comply with all pandemic protocols” as recommended by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the state’s phased reopening plans.
“The four-day competition has been designed with capacity limits and safety and sanitation regulations to maintain adherence with the latest governmental guidance, as well as industry best practices,” the announcement states. “The GTCC has been at the forefront of developing guidelines and standards for meetings and events venues to reopen safely, including achieving Global Biorisk Advisory Council STAR Certification, the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation for facilities.”
It added, “The GTCC Greater Way Forward sanitation and safety protocol is in large part responsible for the Charity Choice Invitational being able to proceed in Tacoma.”
Officials organizing the event estimate that “approximately 830 athletes, limited spectators, coaches and officials who wouldn’t otherwise be in Tacoma will be dining at local restaurants and ordering food to go, shopping at local stores and supporting the local economy,” according to the release.
The competition will consist of four events scheduled throughout each day, “enabling GTCC staff and event producers to maintain stringent capacity limits, monitor physical distancing and implement strict sanitation standards.
“There will not be an opportunity for the public to attend the event.”
The schedule also coincides with the next round of metrics and Phase status reports, to be released Feb. 12.
Pierce County as well as King and Snohomish counties hope to maintain their Phase 2 status under the regional monitoring, which occurs every two weeks.
In the last round, the phase adjustments occurred the following Monday after the Friday announcement.
In a Wednesday update, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s Nigel Turner, director of communicable disease, told Board of Health officials the area was borderline on some of the four metrics.
“We’re in that kind of gray area,” Turner said Wednesday.
The Puget Sound region must meet three of the four metrics to stay in Phase 2.
Those metrics include:
▪ Two-week decreasing or flat trend of active cases.
▪ Two-week decreasing or flat trend of new cases.
▪ ICU occupancy of less than 90 percent.
▪ COVID test positivity rate of less than 10 percent.
Pierce County’s region met three of four of the measures and was moved to Phase 2 on Feb. 1.
The announcement came one day after health officials and Gov. Jay Inslee warned the public against social gatherings for Super Bowl weekend.
On Wednesday, Turner told the Board of Health that it was still to be seen what relaxed guidelines in the Roadmap to Recovery state reopening plan would lead to in Pierce County.
“Remember, we can still be not meeting one of the measures, it’s just three of the four. Remember, as well, it’s over the whole region, which gives us some ability to kind of soak up smaller changes that might happen in a small level.”
He added that if the state was moving toward pulling a county back into Phase 1, “I think there would be certainly some warning of that, if we were in a position to go backwards.”
In a statement to The News Tribune on Friday in response to request for comment, Turner said via email: “We support facilities following the state guidance and encourage them to follow practices that reduce the spread of disease.”
He called for maximized distancing, use of face coverings, good hand hygiene, screening for symptoms to protect health of attendees, and to “Call on attendees to practice good habits.”
In response to questions sent to the state Department of Health, Ginny Streeter, communications consultant with the department, referred The News Tribune to the state’s guidance surrounding youth sporting events.
“If this tournament goes forward, it needs to meet all of the guidelines set forth in this guidance,” Streeter wrote.
“Gymnastics is considered a low risk sport, so tournaments are allowed,” Streeter noted, under Phase 2. “But there are very specific guidelines that they must follow.”
A representative for Travel Tacoma told The News Tribune on Friday that plans came together quickly, and everyone was keenly aware it had to go without a hitch and not become a super-spreader event.
Convention center officials have been touting its COVID-19 safety upgrades at the site since September.
All told, the upgrades for the convention center, Tacoma Dome, Cheney Stadium, Rialto and Pantages theaters and Theatre on the Square were set to cost around $2 million via CARES Act funding.
The site has posted a complete list of its protocols online.
“I’m pleased that we are able to make arrangements to hold this event in Tacoma again this year, in a safe and controlled environment like the Greater Tacoma Convention Center,” said Sandy Flores, meet director of Charity Choice Invitational, in Friday’s release. “These gymnasts put so much effort and dedication into staying strong and healthy year-round for these competitions, and the measures we’ve put in place for this year’s Charity Choice should help them stay strong and healthy.”
Travel Tacoma expects the event to generate “between 1,300 and 4,000 room nights, which will result in direct economic impact to Pierce County at anywhere from $650,000 to $1.7 million.”
Dean Burke, president and CEO of Travel Tacoma – Mt. Rainier Tourism and Sports, said Friday: “ It’s the first real step forward we’ve seen in almost a year. It will take a little patience and practice, and it certainly doesn’t mean things are ‘normal’ yet. Not even close. But this is a lot closer than we’ve seen in a long time.”
According to the Charity Choice Invitational website, teams of youth gymnasts compete “on behalf of a charity of their choice with the opportunity to earn donations for their organization through their representation and team and individual accolades.”
“Since 2011, Charity Choice has donated over $275,000 to various charities in the name of the hardworking athletes and coaches who participate in our event,” according to the website.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 11:12 AM.
