In a nod towards things pointed in the right direction with the COVID-19 pandemic in Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine feels confident about Ohio Stadium being at full capacity for Ohio State games this fall. That’s quite a contrast to just 19,180 fans that were able to attend the annual LiFESports spring game.
In a statement provided to Kyle Rowland of the Toledo Blade, DeWine conveyed his confidence that the state will reach such a declining rate of infection that will allow outdoor events to go on without restrictions.
“Last season, most collegiate football conferences had capacity restrictions that were more stringent than state protocols,” DeWine said in the statement. “As a result, last season, it was the conference rules that were setting capacity, as they were more restrictive.
“Currently, Ohio has no capacity limitation for outdoor events. Sporting event organizers do currently have protocols to social distance pods of no more than 10 persons. This is in line with our simplified mitigation protocols focused on distancing and masking (when one cannot socially distance, such as at crowded events like sporting events).
“Ohio has set a benchmark that we will remove COVID mitigation protocols when we drop below high case levels. This will happen when our two-week case rate drops below 50 cases per 100,000 residents. We believe this is likely to happen well before the start of football season, and the CDC echoed that optimism in statements this week.”
This of course is all contingent upon things in Ohio continuing to improve with the COVID-19 pandemic and for all the optimistic (yet real) projections coming to fruition. It also likely depends on the level of vaccination and herd immunity we see not only in Ohio, but Big Ten country and beyond.
No matter how you weigh it though, this is encouraging news.
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