MLB Allowing 11,000 Fans At Each NLCS & World Series Game, Knowing It Can Easily Evade Responsibility For Any Virus Deaths (Cases Surging In Texas, Increasing In 43 Of 50 States)

Last Monday, I was looking at the box score for Game 1 of the NLCS and was confused when I saw:

Att: 10,700.

I had missed the news that MLB had decided to allow a limited number of fans into the NLCS games in Arlington, Texas. The attendance figures for the first six games:

G1: 10,700
G2: 10,624
G3: 10,664
G4: 11,044
G5: 11,119
G6: 10,772

MLB will also allow a limited number of fans to attend each World Seies game, which will aso be played in Arlington. No fans were allowed at any of the seven ALCS games in San Diego.

Texas (a state run by a Republican governor who initially (like most members of his party) denied the virus even existed (similar to how they deny the existence of science and facts)) is in Phase 3 of its reopening plan (which one virologist called "beyond stupid"), which allows open-air stadiums to admit up to 50 percent capacity. Arlington's retractable-roof stadium seats 40,300. 

MLB says it has "received the appropriate approvals". But was the go-ahead given by adults who think Jesus rode a dinosaur?

Jeff Passan, ESPN, October 12, 2020:

Fans over the age of 2 – except for those with a medical condition or disability that precludes their use – will be required to wear masks over their noses and mouths. Around 200 employees will roam the stadium to enforce compliance, said Rob Matwick, the Rangers' executive vice president of ballpark operations. While fans can remove the masks to eat or drink, those seen not wearing them will be given two warnings before being ejected from the game if caught maskless a third time. . . .

Behind the scenes, sources said, MLB owners have balked at the idea of playing to empty stadiums next season, and holding the NLCS and World Series with fans [after speaking to "health experts"] will provide the league with proof of concept to see whether it can work as a short-term fix. . . .

Following those conversations, MLB decided against requiring temperature checks for those entering the stadium . . . [There has] not been testing game-day employees for the coronavirus.

Pictures at NLCS Game 1 showed fans not keeping six feet apart and not wearing masks. Other photos show that social distancing was optional during batting practice. Were stadium employees giving warnings to these fans? We have no idea.

As Kenny Kelly of Beyond The Box Score noted (my emphasis):

These fans with masks around their chins standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers from opposite sides of the country were violating the guidelines MLB had in place for the game, but rules are only as good as the ability to enforce them. In a piece at The Athletic last week, Evan Drellich reported that the league was "still formulating its exact instructions for game day staff in the postseason." That was Monday the 5th. Tickets went on sale the next morning, so there's no doubt MLB started selling tickets before they knew [they] could stick to any sort of safety protocol.

Two days ago, the Texas Tribune reported that hospitals in some parts of the state (West Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Panhandle, and El Paso) are filling up with coronavirus patients and health officials are warning of yet another surge of new cases. On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 5,870 additional cases, raising the statewide total to 815,678.

Arlington is located roughly equidistant between Dallas and Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, where the "Community Spread Level" in Tarrant County is "substantial". Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said this week, after raising the coronavirus threat level to red (the highest risk): "Unfortunately, we are currently going in the wrong direction."

One reason for the increase, according to Dr. Luis Ostrosky, a professor of infectious disease with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, is "pandemic fatigue", which had led fewer people to wear masks or practice social distancing. "They're not seeing people get sick around them, and they're just starting to be a little bit more permissive."

Which is like being told to take two weeks of medication, then noticing after four days that your condition has improved, so you stop taking the rest of the medication. Spoiler Alert: The condition will likely return.

Over the past week, the United States has averaged 56,210 new cases per day, an increase of 28% from the average two weeks earlier. Cases have been rising in 43 of the 50 states, while the president is lying on a daily basis about "rounding the turn" regarding the virus.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred highlighted his incompetence (one of the few things he does quite well), telling the Wall Street Journal that earlier in the season:

I think there was some sense that if you tested enough, the rest of the preventative measures were maybe not as important.

Kelly describes Manfred's so-called leadership: "Make a plan, don't stick to the plan, scramble to fix things when people get sick."

There are going to be new cases because of the decision to allow fans to attend . . . [there will be at least 11 (and possibly 14) games in Arlington]. New cases will invariably lead to deaths.

The reason MLB is allowing this to happen is that it will be next to impossible to prove that attending these games led to someone dying. . . . 

When fans get sick, it's going to be next to impossible to prove that they got sick at the game. [Hannah Keyser of Yahoo reports that MLB "does not have the authority to contact trace people outside the organization".] Even if someone could prove that they contracted COVID-19 at the NLCS or the World Series, they wouldn't be able to sue because of a waiver included in the ticket agreement. . . .

The World Series will be over before anyone has to go on a ventilator, and no one is going to be able to trace the sickness back to Globe Life Field anyway.

A month from now, we're not going to be able to say how many people got sick or died because they or someone they knew/passed in a grocery store went to these games. That's why MLB is holding these games. They know it's not safe, but they don't have to accept responsibility. All they have to accept are cashless payments.

This is still more evidence that Commissioner Manfred is taking his cues about how to act in this crisis from Donald Trump. It's fine to act irresponsibly, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk for illness and/or death because it will be next to impossible for you to be blamed for any tragedy, but, just to be safe, have everyone attending games/rallies sign waivers absolving you of any legal responsibility for your deliberate carelessness.