The Los Angeles Unified School district will limit large gatherings to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, according to guidelines sent to school principals by Supt. Austin Beutner Wednesday.

The guidelines requested that all schools cancel or postpone all large gatherings of “more people than you might find in a classroom,” including assemblies and school open houses. Athletic events can continue, but without spectators in attendance.

Also included was a request that all students, staff, faculty members or visitors be excluded from school campuses if they have traveled outside of the United States within the last two weeks.

The guidelines, later sent to union-represented teachers and other staff by United Teachers Los Angeles officials, included cancellation of field trips with exposure to crowds and in-person organizational or professional development meetings.

“We recognize these new restrictions will cause some difficulty and disappointment among many who are involved,” wrote Beutner’s letter to principals. “We hope all involved can appreciate the need to protect the health and safety of all who are part of the school community.”

The new restrictions come a day after the LAUSD board approved an emergency declaration that granted Supt. Austin Beutner additional power to take actions that might otherwise require board approval, including a possible shut down of the school system in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

.@LASchools cancels large gatherings including open houses, school assemblies and field trips in places w crowds. Any student, staff or visitor that has traveled out of the country in the last 2 weeks shouldn't come to campus, according to this @UTLAnow email pic.twitter.com/d0L2M5psLk — Ariella Plachta (@AriPlachta) March 12, 2020

There are no individual cases of the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus at L.A. Unified schools. There have been 29 confirmed cases and one death in L.A. county, a woman over 60 who had been visiting the U.S. after extensive travel.

Beutner said Tuesday that if one or more schools need to close, the district might scale up its use of remote online assignment management system Schoology and a distance learning platform called Ingenuity, often used by students to recover credits.

He said the district-owned KLCS Television Channel 58 will also factor into remote instruction plans. To help fund such efforts, the district requested $50 million in additional state funding Monday.