Block Warriors’ plan for return of fans to arena
As more California businesses are being forced to shut down again to control a third surge of coronavirus cases, the Golden State Warriors want to reopen Chase Center to fans.
In a plan disclosed last week by ESPN, team owner Joe Lacob proposes filling the arena to 50% capacity, requiring every fan and worker to wear a mask and testing anyone who enters the building.
Lacob deserves credit for trying to find a creative way to bring fans back to Chase Center. But this is not the time for that. Until the Bay Area, California and nation have the virus under control, the answer from San Francisco and state officials who would have to give their blessing should be no.
The key to Lacob’s plan is use of cutting-edge rapid PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests. Until recently, the testing choice was between highly accurate PCR tests that are sent to labs and can take days to produce results, and rapid antigen tests that are far less reliable. The new rapid PCR tests combine the best of both — speed and accuracy.
The first question for San Francisco and state officials is whether the Warriors’ plan could safely protect fans, workers and players. It would be an intriguing and perhaps groundbreaking experiment that might provide a path for reopening sports, schools and other large-scale group activities.
But the bigger questions right now are whether this is the best use of a limited supply of rapid PCR tests and whether approving the plan in the middle of what will likely be the worst part of the pandemic sends the right message to Californians, who state officials are trying to discourage from group activities.
On those points, it’s hard to see how the Warriors’ plan passes muster. Sure, we’d all like a return to normalcy in many of our daily activities. But with COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations once again spiking in the Bay Area and California, the priority must be controlling the spread of the virus.
Thus, the rapid PCR tests should be used first to protect essential workers, many of whom are struggling to pay their bills, not indulging affluent Warriors season-ticket holders so they can be safely entertained. All sports fans miss the roar of excited crowds, but right now the bigger priority is ensuring hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stores and, eventually, schools are safe.
And, yes, optics matter. It’s bad enough that Gov. Gavin Newsom attended a dinner for a lobbyist friend this month at the tony French Laundry in Yountville that violated his own guideline — now mandate — against gatherings of more than three households.
How would we now tell Californians to stay home, skip their holiday visits with relatives and friends, and in many cases make do without work, while the well-heeled attend basketball games? Battling the spread of the coronavirus requires shared sacrifice.