In compliance with guidelines from Santa Clara County public health leaders in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Stanford University Athletics is limiting attendance at all athletic events, including the possibility of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

Assistant Athletics Director of Communications Brian Risso released a statement Wednesday of several changes that will be in effect through at least May 15.

"All competitions hosted by Stanford Athletics will be closed to the public through May 15 or until further notice," Risso said in the statement. "Only participants, coaches, working staff, officials, credentialed media and a very limited number of family members, friends and guests of the competing teams will be allowed to attend."

Stanford does provide livestreams of its events and is currently working on enhancing their streaming capabilities.

Should the NCAA tournament be held on campus, attendance would be limited to 1,000, which includes the official travel party for each institution, pass list for each institution and all working staff, officials and credentialed media.

Ticket purchasers impacted by this change will be fully refunded for the games that are now closed to the public. Refunds will be processed by Friday, March 13, and may take several days to reflect on your account.

Further updates can be found on the athletics website.

The Pac-12 Conference also released a statement concerning restrictions at its men's basketball tournament in Las Vegas:

"The Pac-12 Conference will conduct the remainder of our Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, beginning with the Thursday, March 12, 2020 sessions, with only essential staff, TV network partners, credentialed media, and limited family and friends in attendance.

This decision has been made based upon new information, including the recommendation of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel. Similar limited fan policies will apply to all Pac-12 sport competitions and Pac-12 Championship events until further notice."

Several high schools in the area are also affected. Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton will close its campus and cancel athletic events beginning Thursday, March 12. Serra High in San Mateo is also closed, affecting several scheduled baseball, boys volleyball and track and field events, among others.

Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula's response to the new coronavirus by the Almanac, Mountain View Voice and Palo Alto Online here.