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In the midst of a potential pandemic fourth wave, MLB will open its stadiums to fans on April 1, 2021. The majority of MLB teams will open their stadiums at 20 to 30-percent capacity.
Being even more conservative is the MLB Nationals at 5,000, Red Sox at 4,500, and the Blue Jays at 1, 275. Texas state stands out from all the other teams because Texas has lifted the mandatory face-mask requirement. The Rangers will be opening up on April 5 all of their 40,300 seats to fans.
The Texas Rangers also plan to reduce the capacity after opening day. They will be going back to socially distancing in four sections of the stadium.
In all 30 countries that MLB teams have stadiums, the infection rate of COVID-19 is down from its highest in January 2021. In the last week, there has been a slite increase.
Experts are concerned that vaccines have given society a sense of security and, combined with an approaching college spring break, could bring us into the fourth wave of infections. Nicholas Reich, a University of Massachusetts biostatistician, said:
We’re skating on a knife’s edge right now
On average, an MLB stadium holds around 40,000 fans. During the coronavirus’s peak, over 112 thousand Los Angeles County residents were contracting the virus weekly. That’s potentially 450 infected fans within a 40,000 seat stadium. Dodgers Stadium is the largest in the country, and the numbers reach a potential 561 infected fans.
Looking at the Ranger’s Globe Life Field, if they had filled this MLB stadium during the pandemic peak in January, on average, the stadium would have 375 infected fans inside. March weekly numbers indicate that potentially 26 recently infected fans will be among the spectators on opening day.
Written By Omari Jahi
Sources:
The New York Times: How Each Baseball Stadium Will Handle Fans to Start 2021,
ESPN: MLB season 2021: Which teams will have fans in the stands on Opening Day? Alden Gonzalez and Jesse Rogers
USA Today Sports: National pastime opens to fans as a pandemic threatens a fourth wave, Jim Sergent, Gabe Lacques, and Mike Stucka, Jim Sergent, Gabe Lacques and Mike Stucka,
Featured Image by Mohammed Jaffar Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
Inset Image by Red3biggs Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
