WWE Venues Under Investigation As COVID-19 Hotspots
The Performance Center, ThunderDome, and Full Sail University all face scrutiny.
The WWE Performance Center (Capitol Wrestling Center), Full Sail University, and Amway Center (ThunderDome) are all under investigation from Florida's Orange County Department of Health as potential COVID-19 hotspots.
WFTV9 broke the story on Tuesday. The department has a team looking into a total of 17 different businesses as potential spreader sites, with an Amazon distribution center, several gyms, and apartment blocks also on the list.
WWE has suffered two reported COVID outbreaks since the onset of the global health crisis. The most recent came in September, and reportedly stemmed from a coach bringing the illness into the Performance Center, leading to multiple wrestlers taking time off television (including Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and RETRIBUTION) as they had come into contact with people who had tested positive.
The promotion has issued the following statement on the investigation:-
"WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of on-going weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%. Additionally, extensive contact tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative."
Orange County had reported 531 deaths from 43,942 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the time of writing.