LOS ANGELES — An executive with the company that owns Santa Anita urged the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday to continue live racing despite a statewide stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Santa Anita in Arcadia, outside Los Angeles, and Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay area are among a handful of U.S. tracks continuing to race without fans. Both are owned by The Stronach Group.

“We are very different from almost every other industry. Horses need exercise,” Aidan Butler, acting executive director of California racing operations for Stronach, told the board during its monthly meeting held via conference call. “The second we stop racing, the whole ecosystem becomes in jeopardy.”

The issue of continuing live racing during the pandemic wasn’t on the board’s agenda, but the question was raised by board member Wendy Mitchell. Several animal activists condemned the board for allowing live racing to go on during a public comment period on the call.

Nationwide, Stonach-owned Gulfstream and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, Oaklawn in Arkansas and Remington in Oklahoma City are staging live racing while the NBA and NHL have put their seasons on hold. Major League Baseball was supposed to begin its season on Thursday, but it has been postponed.

“You can’t look at all tracks the same,” Butler said. “In California, we are not subsidized. We can sustain as long as we can keep the sport going.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order for California has resulted in businesses shutting down or dramatically scaling back to protect against the spread of the virus.

Coronovirus cases in California are increasing as more testing is done. A tally by Johns Hopkins University counted over 3,200 confirmed cases and at least 65 deaths. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the board, said continuing to race “certainly isn’t a medical necessity” for horses.

“It is a health consideration that they train,” he said. “These are very fit, healthy, very good feeling athletes, and you just can’t keep them in a stall. You have to get them out and train them.”

Santa Anita’s stable area has about 1,700 horses and 750 workers on the grounds. The track has racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week.

Arthur, whose office is located in the stable area, said “rather extraordinary” efforts have been made to maintain sanitary conditions.

“I want to make sure we’re making the best decision for the state of California and taking what the governor said very, very seriously,” Mitchell said. “Other tracks around the country are shutting down.”

Keeneland in Kentucky canceled its upcoming spring meet, and Aqueduct in New York cut short its meet after a backstretch employee who lives and works at Belmont Park tested positive for the virus.