It is pretty obvious that nothing is as obvious as it used to be. And can we really call cardboard fans true fans until at least one of them is ejected from a game?

I think not.

I can see real fans coming back to the games now.

Oh, did I just say that? Before you flambe me entirely, hear me out. There are some indicators common sense is making a comeback.

After all, I saw that they recently removed the one way arrows from the aisles of my local grocery store. No more only up one way and down the other. People were passing each other in the aisles, coming and going in opposite directions like they used to pre-Covid.

What happened that prompted this change in aisle management?

If grocers feel the stores are safe enough to have this two-way traffic again, why can’t we attend games again?

Unless you’re actively engaged in eating or drinking, you should have your mask on at all times.

I know all of this goes against the grain of what the media reports, which is that Coronavirus cases are spiking again.

We may never get a vaccine for it. Why not make the face covering thing a requirement at sporting events and reopen the turnstiles to the masked masses wanting to roll the dice?

This will surely make some people upset, but if you don’t want to go to the games you don’t have to. One thing that should be mandatory in addition to mask wearing for fans, is they attend games under the condition that should anything bad happen, they absolve the league and teams of any responsibility.

If you get sick, you get sick. Just like it used to be.

Anonymous

We can use a service to avoid the grocery store, but most of us choose to take the chance of exposure to all things viral including Covid and shop for food ourselves.

If the public’s safety is truly a first and foremost consideration by all establishments when creating store and event policy, it would stand to reason grocery store ownership now feels it is safe to shop like always, save for mask wearing, and go up and down aisles as we used to.

Sure, we’re typically not in grocery stores for three hours or more like we are at sporting events.

However, outdoor sporting events are not as conducive to acquiring high viral loads as confined or indoor spaces with less than state-of-the-art ventilation systems.

I don’t watch the news too often but I’m fairly certain this fact about one way aisle navigation being no more has not been widely reported by the media. If it has it most likely is being downplayed in terms of significance.

People that were going down the aisles at the store I was shopping at were practically rubbing elbows and shoulders as they passed one another.

If we could apply the one sensible thing in all of this, the wearing of masks at grocery stores, to all mass gatherings including our love of in person sports, wouldn’t it be logical to assume our risks of acquiring Covid would be about the same?

We could try to social distance, but it is impossible to get that right 100% of the time as human beings are not programmed to maintain that type of distance when they are born, nor are they able to acquire this skill by practicing it to perfection.

I think the grocery store people have demonstrated they are cool without having one way aisles anymore.

I think pro football fans could be cool with it again, too.

Short of both the rates of fatality and infection skyrocketing out of control, my position remains that the Covid-induced mental health issues that have arisen have impacted more people negatively than Covid itself has.

By a long shot.