Should Kansas City Chiefs fans need COVID-19 vaccine to attend home games?
The Kansas City Chiefs have a 95% vaccination rate, an impressive accomplishment for any organization, regardless of the industry. The team was just one of seven in the NFL that hit that mark this week, team officials said.
COVID-19 restrictions limited seating at most Chiefs home games last season, but not this year. As a result, more than 76,000 fans will flock to the stadium to watch star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and company attempt a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance.
If the team insists on playing in front of a full house, the organization could at least encourage mass vaccination. And maybe it should go a step further.
If the organization does plan to require fans to be fully vaccinated or show proof of a recent negative test result for COVID-19 to attend home games, team officials weren’t letting on this week. But we’d all be safer if they did.
Kansas City’s AFC West divisional rival Las Vegas became the first NFL team to adopt a vaccine/no mask policy. The move allows patrons to attend home games without masks, but all fans must show proof of vaccination to enter. Season and single-game ticket holders face ejection if they violate the stadium’s code of conduct, the Raiders’ ticket policy states.
There’s one exception: Unvaccinated fans could also get a shot outside the stadium and could then enter, too, but in a mask, since protection from the vaccines doesn’t kick in on the spot. Raiders team employees are also required to vaccinate.
Surely the Chiefs organization has learned something from the recent Garth Brooks concert. More than 70,000 mostly maskless people crammed Arrowhead Stadium. Only 35 took advantage of the on-site vaccine clinic offered at the venue, and what does that tell us? Not that the rest were vaccinated, unfortunately.
Even Brooks, the country music star, wondered beforehand if he was doing the right thing by playing in front of such a large crowd amid a rise in COVID-19 cases.
He wasn’t, but the show went on. Unvaccinated fans were told to quarantine after attending. Now Brooks is canceling his remaining stadium tour dates in five other cities,
And the Chiefs missed a perfect opportunity to encourage fans that attend events at GEHA Field to slow the spread of the infectious disease by being vaccinated.
Simply following Kansas City’s mask mandate that went into effect earlier this month isn’t enough. The Chiefs organization has a civic responsibility to talk to its fans about the importance of vaccination during a public health crisis.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
