WASHINGTON — Democrats are postponing their national political convention — originally scheduled for mid-July — until the week of Aug. 17 because of the coronavirus outbreak, the party announced Thursday.

The event, which would normally draw thousands of delegates from Texas and beyond, will still be in Milwaukee.

The Democratic National Committee’s decision comes as large gatherings are now banned in locales across the U.S., in accord with guidelines from public health officials on social distancing and other measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach is to take additional time to monitor how this situation unfolds so we can best position our party for a safe and successful convention,” Joe Solmonese, the convention’s CEO, said in a news release.

The rejiggered timeline means the Democrats’ multi-day exhibition will now be held the week before the GOP is slated to hold its national political convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Such a move had seemed increasingly likely now that officials are predicting the pandemic could stretch on for weeks or months. Even former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, had expressed doubts about a July convention.

“I think it’s going to have move into August,” Biden told NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. “You just have to be prepared for the alternative, and the alternative — we don’t know what it’s going to be.”

The convention committee said it would use the coming weeks to “further explore all options" to reduce risk to public health. Those could include adjusting the format, crowd size and schedule.

In Texas, the state Democratic Party last month announced that it would move its state political convention in early June from a convention center in San Antonio to a digital, online experience. The party will provide details in coming weeks.

The Texas GOP’s executive committee, meanwhile, is slated to vote electronically this weekend to move that party’s state convention in Houston from mid-May to mid-July, party chairman James Dickey announced this week.