Korean league sets plan for fans
Masks required; beer is banned
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s pro baseball league says it will require fans to wear masks and to sit at least a seat apart as it prepares to bring back spectators in the coming weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Korea Baseball Organization also said Tuesday that fans will not be allowed to eat food in the stands. Initially, teams will be allowed to sell only 30% of the seats for each game, a figure that could be expanded to as much as 50% depending on the progress the country makes in its efforts to fight the virus, according to the league’s plans.
Fans also will be screened for fevers and discouraged from excessive shouting, singing and cheering to prevent contact or dispersion of droplets, the KBO said. And perhaps as a means of discouraging any boisterous behavior, beer also will be banned and fans only will be allowed to drink water or non-alcoholic beverages.
They will be able to buy tickets with credit cards only so that health authorities can easily locate them when needed. South Korea has been actively tracing the contacts of virus carriers using credit-card information, cellphone location data and surveillance camera footage.
The KBO also is considering requiring fans to register themselves with smartphone QR codes, a technology that has been enforced at businesses such as nightclubs, karaoke rooms and gyms to track customers when transmissions occur. If a fan is confirmed as a COVID-19 patient during a game, the KBO will immediately suspend play and shut down the stadium for sanitation as health authorities trace the person’s contacts. Players or team staff will be tested if needed.
If players or other team members get infected, the league will close the facilities they visited for at least two days but continue with the games if possible.
If, however, the virus carriers had contacted more than six people, or there are other risks of further transmissions, the KBO could hold an emergency board meeting to determine whether to shut down the league for a minimum of 21 days.
The KBO became one of the world’s first major sports leagues to return to action in May, but without fans in the stands.
Health authorities and sports ministry officials in South Korea have been discussing preventative measures as they try to schedule a return of fans in baseball, soccer, golf and other sports.
Those plans could be announced as early as this week.
“It would be important foremost to reduce the density of the crowd, so our plan is to minimize the size of the crowd at first,” Jeong Eunkyeong, director of South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a briefing. “We need to require (fans) to wear masks, have them refrain from cheering activities that involve shouting and minimize any activity that would require taking off masks, such as consuming food.”
South Korea’s moves to re-admit fans in sporting events come despite a resurgence of the coronavirus in the Seoul metropolitan area, which is home to about half the country’s population of 51 million. Despite the steady rise in infections, government officials have been reluctant to enforce stronger social-distancing guidelines out of concerns of further hurting a fragile economy.