BILLINGS -- This month's Montana Football Hall of Fame banquet has been postponed to June 19-20 as a precaution to the spreading of Coronavirus and COVID-19, according to board member Rick Halmus.
The annual banquet was set for March 28 at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. The decision to postpone was made at Monday night's board meeting.
Halmus said the following considerations helped finalize Monday's decision:
- Government estimates suggested the spike in confirmed cases will level out after about 10 weeks, however economic fallout may continue after that throughout the summer
- University of Utah information suggests 10 to 12 weeks
- Some private infectious disease laboratories have suggested about the same timeline
- The committee is also able to keep its arrangements with the Billings Hotel and Convention Center as its host facility. They have been very gracious in helping grow this event to what it has become today.
- This is a very fluid situation. As an example, there is a company called Germany that has a low-dose vaccine for Coronavirus. The first clinical trial in the U.S. took place at Kaiser Permanente Washington in Seattle (Monday) with a vaccine developed by Massachusetts-based Moderna.
"There are some silver linings as we deal with this event that has turned many things in our world upside down," Halmus said in the email. "One of the inductees also suggested that we have a day of golf now that we’ll be in a summer time frame. And Ken Amato, one of this year’s inductees, helps at an annual football camp in Bozeman. Ty O’Connor, the camp’s host, is planning to host his event beginning June 22, so Ken may be able to attend both events on the same trip."
