With a handful of Santa Clara Vanguard members sidelined due to an upper respiratory illness, the corps will forgo its competitive show tonight at the DCI Tour event in Toledo, Ohio, but will still give an exhibition performance. "Right on the doorstep of the World Championships, we're erring on the side of caution," said Vanguard CEO Jeff Fiedler. "We had 11 members sick today and we took them all to the hospital for a diagnosis. Everyone has already been released." Fielder says that over the last two weeks the corps has been battling a series of upper respiratory illnesses on and off with as many as 20 members recovering at one time. As a result, the corps has been in constant contact with medical personnel and taking preventative measures to stop the spread among its members. "We've been following all of our cleaning protocols and even upped them," said Fiedler. "We've constantly been stressing the importance of hygiene and sterilizing the bus air conditioning filters regularly – The kids have even been wearing surgical masks on the long bus trips. We've also been having the horn line members dispose of their gloves after every rehearsal and the percussion and color guard sections have been cleaning their sticks, flag poles and rifles with antibacterial wipes after each use." Following the Toledo event, the Vanguard will be traveling to their housing site in Charlottesville, Ind, resting and rehearsing for their first performance at the DCI World Championship Quarterfinals on Thursday, Aug. 6.