The Atlantic Coast Conference has canceled all athletic activities for the remainder of the academic year, the conference announced in a statement on Tuesday. The unanimous decision comes amid the further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“Our top priority remains the health and safety of our student-athletes as well as our fans, communities and the overall well-being of others during these uncharted times,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford in a statement. “We are particularly disappointed for our student-athletes and will continue to work with our membership to assess what is appropriate in the future.”

The ACC released this following statement explaining the decision:

"Following further consultation with the league’s member institutions, and after previously suspending all athletic activities indefinitely, the ACC has made the decision to cancel all athletic related activities including all competition and practice through the end of the 2019-20 academic year. The unanimous decision was made to mitigate the further spread of COVID-19. Each institution will continue to work in accordance with its respective university and state policies related to its individual campus decisions."

The ACC suspended all athletic activities because of the coronavirus indefinitely last Thursday. The conference canceled the remainder of its men's basketball championship tournament that same day. Florida State was crowned the champion of the event following the decision to

Coronavirus symptoms include fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. While flu symptoms are similar, they're often differentiated by high fever, exhaustion, chills, dry cough and body aches.

Ways to combat catching COVID-19 include self-quarantining from others, washing hands, avoiding hand to hand or physical contact with others. Coronavirus spreads between people in close contact with one another, typically within six feet, or through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Spread is still possible before people show symptoms, although that does not stand as the typical cause, according to the CDC.

Large, crowded areas should be avoided as movie theaters, work conferences and other traffic-heavy events are being shut down across the country per state jurisdictions at the urging of the CDC. Disneyland in California closed last week amid coronavirus concerns as well as Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando, Florida, whose closures went into effect over the weekend. Several states and cities have also ordered dine-in restaurants to be closed for at least several weeks.

The sports world has come to a virtual halt as the pandemic spreads. The NCAA made an unprecedented decision last week to cancel all winter and spring championships for 2020, resulting in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament not being played for the first time since 1939. On and off-campus recruiting was also banned by the NCAA until at least mid-April.

The NBA and NHL additionally suspended their seasons, with the NBA unlikely to return until mid-to-late June at the earliest. Major League Baseball postponed the start of its regular season, which was set for next week, and will not begin until May in a best-case scenario. Other events such as The Masters Tournament and Kentucky Derby have also been postponed.