The Smash community has been shaken by another COVID scare.
Smash Summit 13, one of the most important Melee majors of the year, announced earlier today that one of the attendees tested positive for COVID. It's currently not known if the COVID-positive attendee was staff or a pro player.
In response to the positive test, TOs have stated that everyone must be tested going forward. Players must present a negative test to enter the venue and compete. Meanwhile, the broadcast has been postponed.
The Smash community has just gotten over the Smash World Tour becoming a "super spreader" event back in December of 2022. Many attendees, including casters and players, tested positive for COVID after attending the Florida-based major. At the time, the Smash community felt skeptical about the return of LAN events, but the country has loosened up ever since.
Now, Smash Summit 13 has been impacted by the continued cases of COVID throughout the United States. But this time around, the community isn't as judgemental of TOs for having in-person events. Instead, many have criticized Smash Summit 13 for being so cautious over the positive COVID case.
On Twitter, many Smash players seemed frustrated with the TOs' handling of the COVID case. One Smash fan called the extra testing and postponed broadcast "theatrics." Others wondered why the event was on hold over "one" positive case. One player joked that the event should just be canceled since there was no point in "risking it all."
Although COVID isn't as big of a deal as it used to be to the majority of Americans, some still applauded the Smash Summit 13 TOs for caring about the health of the players. Despite jokes that "all of the healthy 20 and 30-year-olds may die," some pointed out that it's just common sense to ensure others don't get sick — even if it's not life-threatening to most of the attendees.
There has been no further comment since from TOs so it's unclear when the event will continue.
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