A year too late, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally announced that people only need to wear masks outdoors when congregating in large crowds. Although the rest of the updated mask guidance seems to deny the efficacy of vaccines, at least on the outdoors front, sanity has finally won. Now the government is finally recommending what people in most of the country have been doing since last summer.
Sadly, Major League Baseball has failed to follow suit. Although fans have returned to the stands to a limited extent, common sense hasn’t followed them. Although some 40% of adults in the country are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and despite everything we know about outdoor transmission, MLB rules remain needlessly strict.
For starters, despite social distancing well beyond the 6-foot radius suggested for indoor spaces, masks are required for every guest aged two and up. The only exception is when actively eating or drinking, and even then, you are required to mask up in between bites. Seriously. At Washington’s Nationals Park, mask compliance officers police the stands to give out warning citations if you fail to put your mask on in between sips of a cold one. If you get two citations, you’re booted from the game.
Even with all these precautions, the New York Mets require that fans bring proof of a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination. Despite what we know about surface transmission, the Miami Marlins deploy drones to disinfect the ballpark. Inexplicably, the Colorado Rockies have banned fans from consuming “seeds and nuts in the shell.”
To put it simply, this is pure hygiene theater. If you’re socially distanced in your pod outside, there’s absolutely no reason to wear a mask. Hell, people have been eating indoors while 6 feet apart for half a year without spreading the coronavirus. To socially distance this much while outdoors, where we know COVID-19 transmission is already negligible, then make people put their masks on in between bites of chips, is not following the science. It’s providing the illusion of safety when none is needed.
MLB is a private organization, and these stadiums can do what they want. But it’s not following the science, and there’s no point in pretending anyone is safer as a result.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, Anthony Fauci says that masks will likely stay a requirement for the rest of the season. Because science!
