Despite Coronavirus Concerns, Thousands Of Runners Arrive For Los Angeles Marathon

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Thousands of people came out Saturday for the health and fitness expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center ahead of tomorrow's big race.

More than 27,000 runners from all 50 states and 78 countries were there to pick up their bibs for the Los Angeles Marathon, but many said they were concerned about running in crowds tomorrow because of coronavirus.

"I think it is absurd for us to assume if we put 50,000 people in a space together, whether it's outside or whatever, that nobody is going to get sick," Katie Crosby, a runner, said.

But with countless hours of training, time and money spent preparing for the Los Angeles Marathon, most runners said they were still planning to run.

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"Just make sure you're not touching anyone, use the hand sanitizer and just kind of keep your space," Caroline Perry, a runner, said.

Marathon officials say they have increased the number of hand sanitizer stations at the race expo, start line, along the race route and at the finish festival.

They have also asked any runner or spectator who feels sick to stay home. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health also reminded people to wash their hands, avoid shaking hands and don't share food or drink.

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Runner Radha Senigala is a doctor of internal medicine, and while she has run the marathon for the past two years, she decided at the last minute to sit this one out.

"I do think there is a little bit of risk, but taking care of sanitization and personal protective equipment is kind of hard in a crowd," she said. "So I'm not doing this year."

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Race organizers said they have even gone as far as to defer entries from any runner with a mailing address in a country with a Level 4 travel warning, such as China and Italy.

But if the race expo is any indication, there will be plenty of runners at tomorrow's start line and the health department has asked all runners and spectators to make use of those hand sanitizer stations.