New Santa Clara County COVID health order leaves 49ers without home
BAY AREA
by: Tristi Rodriguez
Posted: Nov 28, 2020 / 03:37 PM PST / Updated: Nov 28, 2020 / 03:37 PM PST
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KRON) — The San Francisco 49ers and other Bay Area sports teams are left without a home after Santa Clara County announced revisions to its coronavirus guidelines.
The new order prohibits contact sports including professional, college, and youth sports for three weeks. This affects the Niners, the Stanford Cardinals and the San Jose State Spartans.
“All recreational activities that involve physical contact or close proximity to persons outside one’s household, including all contact sports, will be temporarily prohibited,” the order said. “People can continue to engage in outdoor athletics and recreation where social distancing can be maintained at all times.”
The 49ers currently have two home games scheduled within the three-week period: Dec. 7 against the Buffalo Bills and Dec. 13 against the Washington Football Team.
The organization must now find a new place to host their home games, along with a new place to practice.
San Francisco released a brief statement Saturday following the announcement.
“We are aware of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s emergency directive. We are working with the NFL and our partners on operational plans and will share details as they are confirmed,” the statement read.
County officials said they are seeing the highest case rate than any other county in the Bay Area, which is why they’re adding these restrictions.
The new health orders also reduce the indoor capacity of all stores to 10%, grocery & pharmacy to 25%, and outdoor gatherings are limited to 100 people.
Additionally, people must quarantine for 14 days after traveling more than 150 miles before returning to the county.
Originally Posted by Halfcan: Additionally, people must quarantine for 14 days after traveling more than 150 miles before returning to the county.
So are they tracking people now?
No. Almost none of the personal regulations have been enforced anywhere in the country. The hope is that people will voluntarily comply (though we've seen how well that works). [Reply]
Originally Posted by lcarus:
Nah it isn't gonna end or nah it is gonna end? Cause I'm just sick to death of it. Been sick of it since May really.
Nah, it's gonna end. That doesn't mean that something else can't happen at some point, but there's not really any reason to believe that another outbreak is any more likely in the future than it has been in the past. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Nah, it's gonna end. That doesn't mean that something else can't happen at some point, but there's not really any reason to believe that another outbreak is any more likely in the future than it has been in the past.
Boy I hope you're right. I'm ready for the world to get back to normal. [Reply]
San Francisco 49ers can't play or practice at home as Santa Clara County bans contact sports for three weeks
New COVID-19 restrictions have been announced for Santa Clara County and will take effect on Monday as the region sets a new single-day record with 760 new cases reported on Saturday. Among the new rules is a ban on all contact sports for at least the next three weeks. The San Francisco 49ers and other local teams may have to make other arrangements for practice and games, as they will not have access to their home facilities during the ban. The 49ers said they are working with "the NFL and our partners on operational plans and will share details as they are confirmed. [Reply]
Rather than allowing the 49ers to play games in their home stadium (where there has been minimal to no confirmed spread of the virus during game action), they will now be forced to travel/relocate for their home games which will inherently increase the risk of virus spread. [Reply]
Per a league source, the NFL and the 49ers prepared months ago, before the season began, multiple possible contingency plans in the event the team needed to move its operations and have a different NFL stadium for its home games.
Given the real-time communication system between the stadium and the league office, the 49ers need to play in a place that has the appropriate technology in place to allow for replay review and related activities. Unless the plans include putting the technological pipeline back into, for example, the Oakland Coliseum, the 49ers will need to find another NFL-ready venue.
As noted when the schedule came out in May, the 49ers could easily play in Arizona, with no conflicts between the schedule of the two teams. [Reply]