Masks at Football Games? It’s been done before.

#StayHealthy and practice social distancing

We are living a new world these days, and if we want things to return to and remain semi-normalcy some sacrifices will have to be made. Most of these sacrifices are fairly minor, and simply just good common sense. We need to practice social distancing, and if social distancing is not possible, then wear a mask.

If we want football in fall, then we may be wearing masks. Andy Katz says this in an article from 247Sports.  

NCAA.com digital reporter Andy Katz joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday to discuss what college football might look like in 2020 because of the pandemic. While he was optimistic about playing games and having fans in attendance, it didn’t come without the stipulation of fans needing to wear masks if they wanted to attend the game.

“I think we’re going to have to have masks in the stadium. I do think it will be required initially,” Katz said. “I think in September — unless things change, and I hope they change — I’m going to say initially, yes, it will be required for entrance all over the country. That’s just my prediction.”

Now if the difference between attending and/or having football comes down to mask wearing, it seems absurd that somebody wouldn’t comply. Anything is possible I suppose, but the wearing of masks has been done before.

Take a look at this photo from Georgia Tech in 1918 and the story from Ken Sugiura of the AJC.

I saw this photo and jumped down a rabbit hole to learn as much as I could about it, and what was happening in Atlanta and at Georgia Tech at the same time. It turns out quite a bit.https://t.co/W9wACGeE12

— Ken Sugiura (@ksugiuraajc) May 21, 2020

 

This story is eerie in how similar it is to what is happening now and how we could proceed going forward.

It is well worth the read.

Here’s a piece from that article.

According to other newspaper accounts, masks at sporting events were not uncommon, sometimes required. In Missouri, two military academies played a football game in which the players themselves were masked.

At Tech, in fact, masks weren’t the only precaution taken. The Oct. 10 edition of the Constitution apprised readers of another measure ordered by army medical authorities at the school to prevent the spread of the contagion at football games – no cheerleading.

What’s the old saying? To predict the future look to the past.

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