The USA basketball team has decided to cancel their trip to Senegal due to the Ebola virus outbreak.
The team, which consists of 16 National Basketball Association (NBA) ballers, was supposed to arrive in the country on Aug. 27. They were contacted to host a youth clinic, along with the players from Senegal.
The team is currently training in Chicago in preparation of their exhibition game in Brazil, according to Businessweek. They will play against the Dominican Republic in New York on Aug. 20. They are also scheduled for an exhibition game with Puerto Rico's team on Aug 22, followed by a game versus Slovenia on Aug. 26.
After these match-ups, the team will travel to Gran Canaria Island in Spain to compete for the FIBA World Cup.
USA Basketball chairman, Jerry Colangelo, expressed the team's disappointment over their cancelled trip. It was supposed to be the first time that the players would visit Africa.
"I speak for all at USA Basketball when I say we're extremely disappointed we will not be able to visit Senegal," Colangelo told ESPN. "Our entire traveling party was very much looking forward to the experience. The circumstances just don't allow us to go."
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed nearly 2,000 lives already. The virus has been very hard to maintain, due to the lack of treatment options in the affected countries.
Aside from health security, the West African region is also experiencing a food shortage. The United Nation's World Food Programme (UN WFP) has already declared Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as a level three food emergency. The UN WFP, along with other agencies, are now working to deliver food into these countries, as well as to the areas quarantined by the government.
