Professional sports to return without fans claims Donald Trump
During Thursday’s press conference president Donald Trump said that he is listening to the experts in the White House and sports should return behind closed doors.
While Dr. Anthony Fauci from the White House and president Donald Trump are not on the same page about the United States ending its quarantine period by May 15, they do agree about some things, like sports. Trump told reporters on Thursday the plan for professional sport leagues to return during the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.
“Many of them are going to be starting without the fans. It'll be that way and then the fans will start coming in, maybe they’ll be separated by two seats and then ultimately we want to have packed arenas,” said Trump.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has been at the forefront of the country’s COVID-19 response, also spoke about the possibility of live sports returning back to normality.
“There’s a way of doing that. Nobody comes to the stadium in the beginning and put the athletes in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them pretty well surveilled and have them tested every single week to make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family and just let them play the season out.”
As of now leagues like MLS, NBA and NHL have put their seasons on hiatus, while the MLB postponed the start of their campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic. On the other hand, the NFL is still planning to begin in early September and play a full season, but they are considering having a contingency plan.
New York is not to optimistic about the return of professional sports
After president Trump’s speech ended, the mayor of New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., Bill de Blasio gave a cautious response when he was asked about reopening sports.
It’s not an on-off switch and we should get it right, one false move and we will see a resurgence, that’s the worst of all scenarios, so let’s get this right. If you put 50,000 people in Yankee stadium and see a resurgence of Covid-19 that would be the worst thing. We have one chance to contain this pandemic.”