KC mayor Quinton Lucas thinks the Chiefs’ COVID plan for fans is a ‘model’. Here’s why.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that the safeguards in place for Thursday night’s Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium will likely prevent further spread of COVID-19.
The comments came in an interview with Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman on Thursday afternoon ahead of the game against the Houston Texans.
“It’ll be a model for the rest of the country,” Lucas said.
He said that it is likely someone with COVID-19 may enter the stadium, the social distancing and mask rules mean it’s not likely to cause further spread. The decisions were made working with the Kansas City Health Department, as well as local doctors, the NFL and the Chiefs physicians, Lucas said.
“I’m not dramatically concerned that we’ll get that many more cases out of Arrowhead Stadium,” Lucas said. “I think the protection should work but it’s something that we’ll continue to watch each week.”
Lucas said he believes attending the game is “largely safe” than other activities, such as eating in restaurants.
The number of fans allowed inside has been limited to 22% of usual capacity and they are required to wear face masks when they are not eating or drinking. That will prevent people from interacting in close spaces and touching surfaces.
The Chiefs have also spaced out seating assignments in the stands and have reminders throughout the stadium’s concourses to socially distance.
The Chiefs are allowing fans to tailgate, although they can only do so with other fans who have tickets in their seating assignments.
Staff enforcing the tailgating rules could tell someone violating the rules they are at risk of losing their season tickets.
“We can never get perfection ... there will always be challenges,” Lucas said. “But we’re trying to say, ‘How can we make responsible steps to get us to the next phase of our recovery from COVID-19?’”
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 6:41 PM.
