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According to Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune the Utah Jazz announced they will admit 1500 fans per game to start the season.
Jazz announce their intentions to have 1,500 fans in the lower bowl only of Jazz games at Vivint Arena this season.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 24, 2020
“The Jazz believe this is a responsible way to start the season from a public health and safety standpoint," Jazz President Jim Olson said.
Here are the restrictions that the Jazz will enforce because of the pandemic.
- Season ticket holders given priority on the seats
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 24, 2020
- Masks required, pods of tickets 6 feet apart
- Reduced capacity stores/bathrooms/elevators
- Preseason will be without fans
- Arena employees temperature screened but not ticket holders
This is a tricky decision because the COVID-19 pandemic is still increasing in numbers. Those increase in numbers can be contributed to gatherings of people indoors. Can the Jazz ensure that people wear their masks the entire time? Will that even make a difference?
Can I be honest? I do not think this is a good idea. Coronavirus can be spread via aerosol, which means it can and does spread further than 6 ft in low circulation settings. Release says they've updated HVAC filters, but I don't think that's enough. However, UDOH has approved.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 24, 2020
According to the Jazz they’ve apparently updated their HVAC filters that will hopefully help with ventilations. This has also been approved by the UDOH.
It feels like we’re pushing things a bit to start the season. There are very promising signs of vaccines being available soon but not for the general public by December. More likely the general public will see vaccines later next year.
And that brings up another question, will we see a requirement of vaccine at some point when that becomes available? How can that be proven?
We’re in unknown territory here, as we have been for this whole pandemic, but from what we know this feels dangerous.
Fingers crossed that this will not result in an increase in COVID cases for the public but it’s probably more likely we see a rise. We can only hope that the Jazz create an environment that keeps things safe for everyone but having that many people in the lower bowl for a couple hours seems like an almost impossible task. Can the Jazz ensure that everyone will keep that mask on? That all fans will follow the rules?
We’ll find out Dec. 22 when the season starts.