For public presence, city of San Francisco cools Warriors’ ambitions

Nine thousand spectators, or 50% of the capacity of the Chase Center. This is the crowd targeted by the Warriors for the resumption of the season, convinced that their health protocol is in place, and that it will allow Steph Curry and his teammates to play in front of the public. Unfortunately, the United States has been breaking contamination records for several weeks, and California in general, but especially the city of San Francisco, are opposed to the presence of the public, and the arguments of the leaders of Golden State were not enough.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Warriors will be able to accommodate 4,500 spectators at best, and only if infections drop in the coming month. The objective is to achieve an incidence rate of less than one case per 100,000 inhabitants. As of last week, the county had an average of 103 new cases per 100,000 population.

« I cannot approve a public presence plan at indoor sporting events at this time“, Wrote Tomas Aragón, head of health for San Francisco, in a letter dated November 14. ” As a result of Covid, spectator indoor sports are currently not permitted in the state of California. 19 restrictions. Additionally, and more importantly, San Francisco is seeing a rapid and significant increase in Covid-19 cases right now.. »

For the Warriors, who spent $ 30 million on their spectator testing procedures, it’s obviously a blow, even if the franchise accepts the rules of the game set by state and city.

« Since last spring we have hired some of the best public health experts and scientists in the country because we know how important it is to let science lead the way ” writes franchise management in a press release. “As we have emphasized throughout this process, our # 1 priority is the health and safety of our fans, employees and players. We believe that the in-depth, detailed, and flexible reopening plans that we have developed over the past eight months will help us when the time comes to achieve our goal of welcoming our fans and staff to the Chase Center. The focus must now be on coming together as a community, state and nation, using all the tools at our disposal to reverse current trends in the pandemic. »

The city assures that it will soon contact the leaders of the Warriors to work together on the return of the spectators.