Sports fans have a responsibility to stay home from games, even if teams still play

Swallowing the cost of the ticket helps not just you, but your entire community.

The world is scrambling to keep the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, in check.

So far, it has failed miserably.

On Wednesday morning, the World Health Organization officially declared it a pandemic. The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said, “We’re deeply concerned, both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.”

What many people wanted to pass off as just a bad cold or something just like the flu has proven to be far more deadly, especially to older populations and people with chronic health conditions. According to the WHO, about 3.4% of COVID-19 cases globally have proved to be fatal.  The virus also spreads easily through touch and close proximity, and that those who are carrying the virus might not show symptoms at all.

The evidence is mounting, and has for some time now, that the best way to protect against COVID-19 is social distancing. That means not coming into contact with anyone you don’t absolutely need to. Still, even with the numbers of COVID-19 cases skyrocketing in America, state, local and federal agencies have been reluctant to put harsher measures in place to stop large crowds from gathering, and that includes sporting events.

While places that have seen the worst outbreaks, including Washington State and Santa Clara County in California, have legally banned all large gatherings, other cities and counties continue to issue soft recommendations that advise against large gatherings but don’t ban them outright. In Ohio and Washington, DC officials have issued public health guidelines that amount to nothing more than weak requests.

 

This leaves the decision of the health and safety of the public in the hands of the private sector — and that wait-and-see approach could prove to be deadly.  Unless absolutley forced to, it’s not likely that teams will close games off to fans and potentially risk losing millions in revenue.  The NCAA, for example, has been frustratingly noncommittal in its policy regarding the March Madness tournament.

The Columbus Blue Jackets similarly have said they will keep their arena open to fans.

“We have been in contact with the National Hockey League and, given the facts before us, it has been determined that our scheduled games, including this Thursday vs. Pittsburgh and Saturday vs. Nashville, will go on as scheduled and be open to ticketed fans that wish to attend,” the team said in a statement.

Even if protected by force majeure clauses, the amount of money and exposure from marquee events, especially as the NHL and NBA head to playoffs, is incalculable. No major corporation will concede those kinds of capital gains and it’s clear that governments are not yet interested in forcing them to act in favor of public health.

What all this exposes is something that might has been visible for awhile now. Without firm restrictions and policies in place for the betterment of public health, the responsibility is on each individual to do what is not just in their best interest, but for that of the greater good.  That means just staying at home, even if you have tickets for a game that you were counting on seeing.

Expert after expert has recommend social distancing as the most effective way of not just protecting oneself, but those who are more vulnerable.  If you are a young, healthy, able-bodied person, the risk of corona virus personally may be minimal, but social distancing is still a proactive step that could potentially help many others.

“We should prepare, not because we may feel personally at risk, but so that we can help lessen the risk for everyone,” wrote professor Zeynep Tufekci in a piece for Scientific American.  “We should prepare not because we are facing a doomsday scenario out of our control, but because we can alter every aspect of this risk we face as a society.”

Part of that preparation includes decreasing your own exposure to the virus so you leave medical resources for people that may need them more than you.  The term “flattening the curve” has been used a lot over the past few days, and it sums up exactly why health officials are urging people to stay at home and away from large crowds.

 

The pandemic may eventually make its way to everyone, but more people have a better chance of surviving if the disease is spread out over time, rather than if it hits all at once.

Every public gathering now becomes a matter of risk calculation.  We need only to look at what happened at the Biogen conference in Boston to see why.  According to the Boston Globe, 70 of 92 new cases of COVID-19 that were just recently discovered, were transmitted at a two-day conference in late February.  As the Globe also reports, many of the people who asked to be tested were refused because of the CDC’s woefully inadequate testing guidelines.

It is a mess of massive proportions that highlights not just how quickly the virus spreads but the inability of federal agencies to actually help stem the problem.  The last thing that should happen is more large groups of people congregating and interacting in ways that help spread the disease.

As of now, it looks like teams, governments and other agencies aren’t ready to enforce large scale bans of public gatherings. That means it’s up to each individual person to make a very hard, but altruistic choice.  I wouldn’t fault anyone for showing up to a game they probably paid a hefty price for, but swallowing the cost of the ticket helps not just you, but your entire community. Right now, cheering from home is the most important thing you can do.