MIAMI — The NFL’s New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders are the adults in the room at the moment. There is room for others to join them. We are waiting for that.
Only those two franchises (so far) will require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for fans to attend games this season. Unvaccinated? Stay home. The Saints and Raiders, at the risk of upsetting some fans, are facing head-on the reality America is facing: A new and deadly surge in the coronavirus pandemic caused by the Delta variant.
The Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes, who both play at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, have more cause than most teams to follow suit and require vaccinations for fans to attend games in the season now upon us. Both should. There is no indication either will. And the risk of both teams’ home games becoming super-spreader events among the unvaccinated is real.
Brown University School of Public Health’s recent risk assessment research put Florida in the “red” category, the most dangerous of four, with Miami-Dade and Broward counties a major contributor. White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said “one in five [new] cases are occurring in Florida alone.”
The school boards of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — more adults in the room — mandated teachers and students wear protective masks for the school year just begun. That’s putting health, safety and children first in direct-but-morally sound opposition to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order banning mask mandates.
The Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium (both owned by Stephen Ross) and the Hurricanes have every right — every obligation, I would argue — to welcome in only vaccinated fans if they chose. Instead they will be one of the root causes if we see a further leap in new COVID-19 cases from perhaps thousands of unvaccinated fans among large crowds at games.
Florida’s vaccination rate statewide is around 47%. If football fans are a representative percentage, that would mean some 30,000 unvaccinated fans as a sold-out Fins or Canes home game.
Last season, home attendance for both teams was limited to 20% of capacity, with social distancing and mask requirements in place.
This season, despite the Delta variant surging as a huge issue in South Florida, the Dolphins and Hurricanes will welcome full stadiums (an oxymoron to social distancing) and only event-day staff will be required to wear masks.
Masks for unvaccinated fans will be “recommended,” Dolphins senior vice president of communications Jason Jenkins said Thursday.
Hmm. Ask yourself: Is a person who has defied logic and science and refused the vaccine because they believe they are bullet-proof — even as 98% of deaths are now among the unvaccinated — likely to be wearing a mask as “recommended”? Good luck with that.
The University of Miami will go along with the stadium policy.
Blake James, Hurricanes director of athletics, told the Miami Herald on Thursday: “While our first home game is over three weeks away our current plan is to take the same approach the Dolphins/Hard Rock Stadium take, consistent with the direction provided by state and local government experts.”
UM’s first home game at Hard Rock Stadium is September 11 vs. Appalachian State. That’s a low-watt opponent with a sold-out crowd unlikely.
Likewise, the Dolphins’ lone home preseason game, vs. Atlanta this Saturday, is unlikely to draw a huge crowd.
But the Fins’ regular-season home opener vs. rival Buffalo on Sept. 19 — that will be a sellout and the season’s first supers-spreader risk.
Of course even vaccinated folks are put at some risk by those who are not, with a need for booster shots on the horizon and occasional (though rare) “breakthrough” cases affecting even the vaccinated.
The ongoing threat is why an increasing number of states, cities, and companies like Disney, Walmart and McDonald’s are vaccine mandates to varying degrees. The U.S. military is implementing one. More and more restaurants are, too.
It makes sense for sports to follow suit, considering sports are the main stage for huge crowds in America and therefore huge gatherings of those without vaccines.
It makes public-health sense because it would greatly encourage unvaccinated fans to get their shots. And it would not hurt on the business end.
Do you think the Saints and Raiders will be playing to half-full stadiums? No. There are plenty of vaccinated fans to fill those seats vacated by the science-deniers.
The Miami Dolphins and Hurricanes had the chance to get on the right side of this public-health issue that is so great right in their own backyard.
Maybe it isn’t too late?
