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Canada, meanwhile, has seen very limited domestic transmission of the virus, and event planners say it’s largely business as usual until that changes.

Still, concert promoters, major sports leagues and festival organizers say they are watching carefully to decide whether they should bring crowds of people together to share the same space.

“We have been told by public health there is no need to cancel events or minimize social gatherings at this point,” said Erin Benjamin, president of the Canadian Live Music Association. “I think that’s going to be public health’s determination, and I hope we don’t get to that.”

The newly released federal guidelines urge organizers to assess risk, highlighting factors like the ages of the attendees, given the virus hits older populations hardest, and whether they are likely to be arriving from regions that have been impacted by COVID-19.

They also offer ways to reduce the risk without cancelling the event altogether, such as by limiting the number of people who attend, staggering arrivals and departures, making more hand-washing stations available, or even live-streaming activities online.

But they don’t dictate whether certain types of events should be shut down, and under what conditions. Rather, they’re intended to help event planners, municipalities, provinces and territories make informed decisions.

“You may be in a context where you have a very strong healthy system where you can say ’OK, well we will welcome this event because if there’s a problem we’ll be able to contain it,”’ Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said Tuesday in Ottawa. “On the other hand, you may be in a situation where you feel that you can’t do that.”