Should College/Pro Sports Have their Stadiums at Full Capacity Again?

With the Covid-19 pandemic allegedly on its last leg, Georgia Southern is potentially looking at having 80%-100% capacity at its football games this Fall. With baseball season approaching us, the NBA in midseason form, and the football season only a few months away, we are now entering the peak of sports. For sports around the world, last season was as unique of a season as we’ll ever see due to little to no fans at sporting events. As sports are now picking back up, there have been several rumors of the possibility of allowing up to 80% to full capacity crowds in stadiums. Numerous college football programs are flirting with this idea, which has caused plenty of mixed reactions from both sides of the spectrum. Georgia Southern Biology professor John Carroll has been studying vaccines for over a decade and is very confident on what this may mean for the pandemic. “If we didn’t have any vaccines, it would’ve been idiotic for schools to make such a huge leap in allowing a full capacity stadium.” “I do feel like 100% may be a bit of a stretch, the smarter and safer approach would be 75-80%”. When looking at the data, it’s easy to see why people may get blinded by the numbers of 137 million vaccine doses given in America. Although 137M have been vaccinated, 48.7M of those 137M have been fully vaccinated which is only 14.87% of the US population. Although things tend to be heading in the right direction, it’s still awfully quick to determine whether it will be safe to allow stadiums at full capacity this Fall. On the brighter side of things, with four different vaccines available, Carroll also sees a path where having stadiums at full capacity could become a reality. “All the vaccines have a 90-95% success rate, which is way above everyone’s expectations”. “The vaccines are clearly effective, so if schools continue to push the envelope on getting vaccinated, I think it’s very possible.” In a conducted interview with 50 Georgia Southern Students, 36 students said they would feel safe going to game that is fully capacitated, while 14 of the 50 students said they would not feel safe. Public Health Grad student, Kinsey Morelock contributed the results of the survey to “real life evidence”, and statistical data. “The leading cause of Covid outbreaks were linked to campus parties, bar gatherings, and huge social gatherings with no masks in sight,” she said. “Classrooms on campus and sporting events were surprisingly a non-factor regarding the covid outbreaks that took place during the Fall semester.” In a Washington Post graph, data shows that bars were followed by a rise in cases, and in 23 different states. Some of the few states that make contact tracing data public 41% of all cases can be traced to bars and restaurants. 41% was the highest percentage out of all the categories while sporting events only had an eight percent effective rate. Indoor dining, especially when capacity is capped at 25%, appears to be less of a problem than bars. But in bars, physical distancing is harder to control, and people talk more and louder when alcohol is consumed, which could contribute to the production of more virus aerosols. Which is why the nation’s top infectious diseases official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have consistently stated, “when bars open, infections tend to follow.” “If we’re being honest, having a fall stadium really shouldn’t be a discussion,” Georgia Southern student Evan Rowe said. “The super spreaders were linked to parties and bars, notice how after the super bowl and other major sporting events with a decent crowd had no outbreaks”. Although it is understandable that many people are not too fond of the idea of fully compacted stadiums, remember that this was never that cause for outbreaks. With four vaccines available and a few more rumored to be the horizon, scientist have predicted that at least 80-85% of people will be fully vaccinated come September. “It’s tough to predict what may happen in six months,” Carroll said. “But if we continue to do what we’ve been doing for a year now, and continue to listen to the scientist/doctors, everything will play out the way it was intended to."