Sports and COVID-19: Tampa Doctor Suggests Surveillance and Game-Day Testing of Fans to Check for Virus
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way fans will consume sports in profound ways, including the surveillance and game-day testing of fans who want to attend major league sports games, a doctor at a prominent Florida hospital said a Facebook Live interview with LVSportsBiz.com.
Dr. Jason Wilson is a medical leader at Tampa General Hospital, one of Florida’s premier hospitals. He is based in Tampa General’s ER and was tracking the spread of COVID-19 cases and deaths early on the Tampa Bay market, including Hillsborough County (Tampa) and Pinellas County (St. Petersburg).
Wilson agreed with many others who said there will be an interim phase when major league sports like MLB, NBA, NHL and UFC return to stage competition without fans. Wilson is a big sports fan himself and works as a doctor at NHL Tampa Bay Lightning and NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.
But without a vaccine in hand, teams and sports venue might have to rely on bio-surveillance techniques such as checking to see if fans have tested positive or negative for the coronavirus on game days. Sharing that kind of medical information with teams might be part of the price of admission for fans, Wilson observed.
Wilson also observed that it could be the fall of 2021 before the fan atmosphere resembles the conditions at arenas, stadiums and ballparks that were present before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world and the U.S.
Here’s our extensive interview with Wilson Friday:
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