With Worldwide Virus in U.S., It’s OK to Attend Sports Events In Las Vegas Area If You’re Healthy But No High-Fives
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
If you feel healthy, it’s OK to attend sports events with big gatherings like Vegas Golden Knights games and college basketball tournaments in Las Vegas during the next few weeks, according to a medical university immunology expert in Henderson.
But viral innate immunologist and Touro University Nevada assistant professor Amy Stone also recommended no high fives. “If you go to sports events, do elbow bumping instead of high-fiving,” Stone told LVSportsBiz.com Thursday.
The spread of the coronavirus to the U.S. has had a big impact on the sports industry. At one college basketball game Thursday, the two teams’ coaches gave fist bumps instead of exchanging handshakes at the Houston-UConn game.
Chicago State, a college basketball team in the Western Athletic Conference, announced this week that the men’s team will not go on the road to play two WAC games this week, while the women’s hoops team will not play two home games. And Chicago State is weighing the option of not participating in the WAC tournament at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, the NCAA said there will be no spectators at Division III basketball’s upcoming postseason tournament games at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland after confirmed cases of coronavirus in that area. So the Division III basketball games will move forward without fans there.
And in Seattle, the city’s new NHL team has “postponed the release of season-ticket prices and its seat selection process for this week and possibly next week” due to coronavirus concerns, according to the Seattle Times and Sports Business Daily.
But in Las Vegas, Stone suggested fans and team players should “live your life like you normally would” in the metro area, noting the first novel coronavirus case in Clark County announced this week involves a man who has been isolated.
“There’s no reason to think we’ll have an outbreak here given our situation,” Stone said.
Stone did stress some strong recommendations if you do attend games where there are crowds of fans such as washing hands for at least 20 seconds. And if that’s not available, then use a sanitizer.
The danger is that the virus can get on your hands and then you touch your face, said the Tauro assistant professor of microbiology and immunology.
Stone also offered other suggestions and observations:
^ if arena workers, food servers or ushers feel symptoms of the virus, they should stay home.
^ healthy people do not need to wear masks; only sick people should wear masks to protect other people.
^ a flu vaccine has no impact on coronavirus because it’s two different families of viruses. “It’s like saying an elephant is the same as a dog.”
^ it’s also “wait and see” on the Summer Olympics in Japan.
Here’s Las Vegas resident and former NFL player O.J. Simpson and his response to the coronavirus. From Simpson’s Twitter account:
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter and Instagram. Like LVSportsBiz.com on Facebook.
