The Texas Rangers have announced plans to reopen their home stadium to full capacity on Monday amidst the increasing number of coronavirus cases. It is a move that has left many health experts and President Joe Biden concerned.
This will be the first Major League Baseball stadium to reopen to a full capacity since the pandemic began last year.
The decision comes only a month after Texas Governor Greg Abbott ended the mask mandate in public across the state and ordered the businesses to open in full capacity.
Texas Rangers’ President of Business Operations, Neil Leibman announced that they got encouragement from the governor’s orders. To bring back life to normalcy, it is needed to reopen the places which offer leisure and entertainment. The stadium will be opened only after ensuring that the SoPs are being followed by the fans.
Leibman further proclaimed that they will be monitoring the developments closely and will implement any kind of safety measures instantly if required.
The stadium will be open in sections on Monday, allowing the fans to watch games with dedicated seating maintaining a proper distance.
An Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago; Dr. Emily Landon, claimed that outdoor sports like baseball give better protection to the audience in the open-air rather than indoor arenas which are riskier as they let the air particles linger within the atmosphere for a longer period of time.
She claimed that it was still riskier to open a stadium to full capacity as it was not known who was coming to watch the match while carrying the virus.
The pandemic is far from over.
A large crowd is expected to come to the stadium since everyone is yearning to taste the pre-pandemic days.
Another MLB team, the Houston Astros are operating at a 50% seating capacity at the Minute Maid Park for April.
