德州游骑兵队计划在周一的首场比赛中采取大胆的行动,一些医学专家和总统乔·拜登对此表示担忧。
阿林顿的环球生命球场将是自大流行开始以来第一个满负荷重新开放的职业棒球大联盟体育场,大约有40,000个座位。此前一个月,得克萨斯州州长格雷格·艾伯特(Greg Abbott)以新冠肺炎病例和疫苗接种数量下降为由,结束了该州的口罩授权,并要求企业全面重新开业。
在3月10日发布的一份声明中,该团队的业务运营总裁尼尔·莱布曼(Neil Leibman)表示,流浪者队受到了州长命令的鼓舞,并正在采取措施确保球迷的安全,包括要求戴口罩,但吃饭时除外。
在周一的主场揭幕战之后,体育场将有几个部分允许球迷“远距离就座”观看。
杰罗姆米隆/今日美国体育通过路透社,文件
德州游骑兵队和侯队比赛时的看台和露天屋顶
“我们将继续监测事态发展,并实施必要的公共卫生措施,”莱布曼在一份声明中说。
得克萨斯州的另一个MLB团队——休斯顿太空人队,在4月份将只运营分钟女仆公园大约41000个座位的50%。体育场还将要求球迷在不吃饭时戴口罩。
芝加哥大学医学副教授艾米丽·兰登博士说,上个月告诉美国广播公司新闻棒球和其他户外运动比室内竞技场能更好地保护人群,因为空气颗粒更难滞留。
尽管她表示,MLB队向球迷重新开放比赛的决定是安全的,但她警告说,由于拥挤在一起的人数太多,游骑兵队全面重新开放比赛的风险更大。
兰登指出,该国每天仍有数千例病例,尤其是病毒变异。
“你不知道谁会和新冠肺炎在一起,”她告诉美国广播公司新闻。
查理·里德尔/美联社文件
德州游骑兵队的尼克·索拉克(右)在f.
拜登在一次采访中谈到了游骑兵队的计划采访ESPN上周,称此举“不负责任”
“他们应该听取福奇博士、科学家和专家的意见。但我认为这是不负责任的,”总统说。
拜登警告说,可能会出现激增,他引用了已经重新开业的欧洲国家的例子,并重申在企业完全重新开业之前,需要增加疫苗接种。
“我们必须让足够多的人服用疫苗,这样我们才能减少它扩散的可能性,”他说。
据报道,在3月1日至4月1日期间,德克萨斯州每天新增病例的七天平均值从7693例下降到3667例该州的卫生部。截至周日,28%的德克萨斯州居民已经接种了一剂疫苗,16%的人已经完全接种了疫苗疾病控制和预防中心。
根据疾控中心的数据,全国约有32%的成年人接受过一次疫苗注射,约有18%的人接种过疫苗。
Texas Rangers to reopen stadium at full capacity despite COVID-19 case numbers
The Texas Rangers are scheduled to make a bold move for their home opener Monday that has some medical experts and President Joe Biden concerned.
Globe Life Field in Arlington will be the first Major League Baseball stadium to reopen at full capacity -- roughly 40,000 seats -- since the pandemic began. The move comes a month after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ended the state's mask mandate and asked businesses to reopen fully, citing declining COVID-19 cases and vaccination numbers.
In a statement released on March 10, Neil Leibman, the team’s president of business operations, said the Rangers were encouraged by the governor's orders and were taking measures to ensure fans were safe, including requiring masks, except for while eating.
Following Monday's home opener, the stadium will have sections that allow fans to watch with "distanced seating."
“We will continue to monitor developments and implement the necessary public health measures,” Leibman said in a statement.
The Houston Astros, Texas' other MLB team, will only be operating at 50% of Minute Maid Park's roughly 41,000 seat capacity for April. The stadium will also require masks for fans when they're not eating.
Dr. Emily Landon, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago,told ABC News last monththat baseball and other outdoor sports provide better protection for crowds than indoor arenas, since it's harder for air particles to linger.
While she said the decision by MLB teams to reopen their games to fans was safe, she warned that the Rangers' full capacity reopening was riskier, due to the sheer number of people crowded together.
The country is still seeing thousands of cases a day, particularly from the virus variants, Landon noted.
"You don’t know who is going to come in with COVID-19," she told ABC News.
Biden weighed in on the Rangers' plans during aninterview with ESPNlast week, calling the move "not responsible."
"They should listen to Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, the scientists and the experts. But I think it's not responsible," the president said.
Biden warned about potential surges, citing the jumps in European nations that have reopened, and reiterated that vaccinations need to increase before businesses can reopen fully.
"We have to get to the point where enough people have taken the vaccinel, so we diminish the possibility for it to spread," he said.
The seven-day average of new daily cases in Texas has decreased from 7,693 to 3,667 between March 1 and April 1, according tothe state's health department. As of Sunday, 28% of Texas residents have received one vaccine dose, and 16% are fully vaccinated, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nationally, about 32% of adults have received one shot, and roughly 18% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.