OSU fans attending games taking risk
Caution called for as college football returns
The college football season has kicked into high gear, the NFL season opened Thursday night and Major League Baseball’s pennant races are heating up. For the first time since 2019, nearly all sports stadiums will be fully open to fans.
In the so-called Before Times, sitting shoulder to shoulder inside a stadium with tens of thousands of boisterous spectators – after a few hours of pregame tailgating – was a highlight of many fans’ autumn. But with COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths soaring from the delta variant, many fans are wondering if that is a wise idea.
Ohio State hosts Oregon on Saturday at Ohio Stadium in its first home football game of the 2021 season, with an expected crowd of about 90,000.
OSU announced on Tuesday that it would not require fans in attendance to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19, or results of a negative test, as other schools have done for their home football games and as many concert venues have done for fans attending music or comedy shows.
Masks will be required inside certain enclosed areas of the Horseshoe, including restrooms. They are not required at entry gates, concourses or in the stands.
While many variables are in play with COVID-19 and the game this weekend, Dr. Mysheika Roberts, commissioner for Columbus Public Health, has one absolute: Stay home if you’re not vaccinated.
“I tell anyone going to any large gathering that they should not attend if they’re not vaccinated, whether that’s for personal reasons or for medical reasons ... whether the event is indoors or outdoors,” Roberts said.
If someone who is vaccinated does choose to cheer on the Buckeyes in person, she recommends wearing at mask, especially when people can’t control social distancing, such as in the stands or in line for the bathroom, and being mindful of hand hygiene.
Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, a specialist in infectious diseases at Ohiohealth, calls those the layers of protection football fans should implement if they’re headed to the Horseshoe on Saturday.
And although attending an outdoor event is safer than one that’s indoors, he said that doesn’t take away from people taking steps to mitigating their risks of contracting and spreading COVID-19.
“The more layers you have, the better,” Gastaldo said. “One layer is being taken away at the Ohio State football game – the physical distancing – and because of that, make sure you’re not skimping on the rest.”
He said being fully vaccinated is a fan’s most powerful tool.
Still, Gastaldo said he’ll be watching the game from home with his immediate family and a few friends he knows are vaccinated.
Dr. Mark Herbert, an infectious disease specialist with Mount Carmel Medical Group, said he wouldn’t feel comfortable going to the game and echoed Roberts’ sentiments that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated or people who are immunocompromised shouldn’t attend the game.
“You have 100,000 people who are very excited to be together for the first time in a while, breathing, talking, screaming – it’s not a very safe environment,” Herbert said. “If people do want to be safe, they should wear a mask throughout the entire event.”
He said people need to be careful, whether they are heading to the stadium, watching the game from a campus bar or hosting a party at home.
“I am concerned about what might happen after this weekend,” Herbert said.
Experts nationwide also voiced similar warnings as the college football season heats up.
Kaiser Health News interviewed seven public health experts from big football states across the country about whether attending football games was a good idea. Six were adamant in their response: No way. Not now.
“I am a die-hard sports fan,” said Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South
Florida in Tampa. “But I would not go to these events right now.”
Salemi said that with COVID cases at their highest level since late January – with the seven-day average case count rising to just over 149,000 as of Monday – and hospitals filling up around the country, there is too much risk even for people who have been fully vaccinated.
Although outdoor events are less likely to lead to infection because the air circulation is greater, sitting within just a few feet of 10 or 20 screaming fans watching football, baseball or soccer – the Columbus Crew has allowed full attendance at home games since June 19 and doesn’t require proof of vaccination or a negative test – reduces that safety margin, Salemi said.
Vaccines greatly lower your risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID, but the dominance of the more transmissible delta variant is leading to increasing numbers of breakthrough infections, some of which do cause uncomfortable symptoms. Getting infected also increases the likelihood of passing the infection to unvaccinated people, who could become seriously ill.
Even some vaccinated fans – especially those who are older and frail or people with chronic medical conditions – should also realize they face higher risk from an infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have guidance specific to sporting events, but it recommends that anyone attending large gatherings in areas with high numbers of COVID cases – all 88 Ohio counties are considered “high” for transmission rate – should “consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and for activities with close contact” with others who are not fully vaccinated.
“A packed football stadium now is not a good idea,’’ said Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, a professor of medicine and public health sciences at the University of Miami’s medical school. “When there’s a lot of shouting and yelling’’ without masks, “it means they’re spraying the virus.’’
Football stadiums, which are generally among the largest sporting venues in this country, are typically packed with fans cheering and high-fiving, making it impossible to physically distance from people who might be unvaccinated. Equally difficult is remaining apart from the unvaccinated in crowded concourses and restrooms.
Dr. Robert Siegel, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, said that while the risk of dying or ending up in intensive care from COVID after being vaccinated is “vanishingly small,” he would prefer to avoid even a milder case so he doesn’t have to worry about long-term consequences of the disease.
“It’s not worth it to me, but if football is your life, you may have a different calculus,” he said.
If fans choose to attend a game, experts say the first line of defense is being fully vaccinated. If unvaccinated, all seven experts interviewed by Kaiser strongly recommended against going to a game.
Some colleges, such as Boston College, Louisiana State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State, are requiring fans to be vaccinated or to show a negative COVID test to attend a game. And many players and coaches are vaccinated to reduce their risk and ensure they will be available on game days – most conferences now have instituted forfeiture rules should one if its teams be forced to cancel a game because of COVID.
But many stadiums will have few, if any, restrictions on fans. In announcing Ohio State’s policy on Tuesday, athletic director Gene Smith said, “We’re leaving it up to our fans to be safe and be responsible.”
No other Big Ten or Ohio university is requiring proof of vaccination status or a negative test to be admitted into its stadium.
“At the end of the day, we have to let people make a choice,” Smith said on
Tuesday. “The reality is people need to be careful. I would hope that if you’re unvaccinated, you will wear a mask. And if you’re uncomfortable being outdoors, you wear a mask.”
Mask mandates vary by venue for both NFL and college teams. Regardless of stadium policy, experts advise wearing a mask if not eating or drinking. Even if others around you are not wearing one, your mask will give you a level of protection from inhaling the virus.
“It’s best if all parties are wearing a mask, but wearing a mask is better than not wearing a mask,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Dale Bratzler, Oklahoma University’s chief COVID officer, said he would not tell vaccinated people to avoid going to football games. He does strongly advise, however, that fans consider double masking.
If you want to protect others, consider taking a home COVID test the day of the game, Safdar said, adding that if the test results come back positive, or if you feel any symptoms, even a runny nose, mild headache or cough, don’t go.
What about tailgating for hours with friends beforehand? Most of the experts agreed that tailgating with a few friends outdoors is a less risky part of the football game experience. But that’s only if you know the people with whom you are eating and drinking are vaccinated.
“It’s also that party atmosphere, where people are generally not in a position to wear a mask and you are standing close to people,” Safdar said. “It’s still a risk.”
Some might question how millions of people have been attending baseball games, soccer games and other sporting events all summer without many outbreaks. Why worry now about football games?
There have been rare reports of outbreaks from Major League Baseball stadiums, which often pack in 40,000 fans. But that could be changing, too, because the more highly transmissible delta variant has been widespread only since July. Also, the experts said, it’s difficult to track how many fans get sick because the incubation period can last a week or more. People might not connect their illness to the game, especially if they assume outdoor activities are safe.
“Delta changed the entire equation of how we looked at the risk,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “I do think there will be transmission’’ in stadiums.
Health experts point to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota last month that has been linked to more than 100 infections.
So far no outbreaks have been linked to Crew games at Lower.com Field, which hosts 20,000 fans, or the nearby Huntington Park, where the Columbus Clippers play, Roberts said.
Herbert said he’s gone to a few Clippers games, but he wears his mask and often switches seats if he feels he’s too close to strangers. He has tickets to his first game in the new Crew stadium coming up, but he’s nervous as the delta variant surges.
The physician said: “I’m much less excited to go today than I was a month ago.”
Dispatch reporter Allison Ward contributed to this story.
Kaiser Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues.
“You have 100,000 people who are very excited to be together for the first time in a while, breathing, talking, screaming – it’s not a very safe environment. If people do want to be safe, they should wear a mask throughout the entire event.” Dr. Mark Herbert An infectious disease specialist with Mount Carmel Medical Group