What attendance may look like for Giants

Brian Boyle

SFGate, San Francisco

President Joe Biden has vowed the country is on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May. The number of new San Francisco COVID-19 cases have consistently fallen every week since a nasty post-holiday mega-spike.

This summer, it seems, may at long last mark the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, on Friday, the state of California announced Covid guidelines to help safely reopen outdoor ballparks, stadiums and theme parks starting April 1. The Giants' home opener is on April 9.

Here's how many fans the new guidelines would allow in the roughly 42,000-seat Oracle Park:

If San Francisco county remains in the red tier — marked by four to seven new daily cases per 100 thousand residents — Oracle will be open to 20 percent capacity, or 8,400 fans.

If the county progresses into the orange tier — marked by one to 3.9 new daily cases per 100 thousand — one-third of seats will be filled at Oracle, or roughly 13,860 fans.

If the county again improves into the vaunted yellow tier — recording less than one new daily covid case per 100 thousand — an additional 33% of seats will be sold, bringing the total number of fans to 28,140.

In the unfortunate — and seemingly unlikely — event the county backslides into the dreaded purple tier, only 100 fans will be allowed into the ballpark, and concessions will have to remain closed.

According to the Giants' website, tickets will be sold exclusively in 'pods' of two to four seats, with each pod seated at least 6 feet away from each other. No standing room only tickets will be made available.

Assuming the county avoids a catastrophic resurgence of Covid cases, opening day will mark the first time fans will enter the ballpark since September 29, 2019. Which means, sadly, it's time to bid adieu to those creepy cardboard cutouts.

Fare thee well, synthetic seatholders. We hardly knew thee, though you did seem to engage with regular season baseball about as much as anyone under the age of 55.