Past time to shut down pro sports in pandemic

I am tired of picking up the Mercury News and seeing pictures of athletes playing games like everything is normal. We see them high-fiving, embracing, on top of each other while playing, it goes on and on.

As someone who works in the performing arts, whose industry has been shut down since March, this is frustrating. Theater companies, orchestras and opera companies have canceled entire seasons and more, yet somehow professional sports are allowed to make their seasons go forward, without changing how they play the games.

The Mercury News should advocate for a sports shutdown and limit the coverage it provides in its sports section. And we all should be pushing leaders to make it clear that teams cannot play, that traveling to avoid restrictions will incur penalties, and that the tests teams are administering would be better used in necessary health care situations.

— Jonathan Erman, Palo Alto