As fall athletics returned to the county after a year long absence, the biggest controversy has been whether or not spectators should be required to wear masks at MCPS sporting events.
The current ruling for spectators is that masks must be worn at indoor sporting events. While it is recommended for spectators to wear their masks at outdoor athletic matchups in MCPS, it is not required. These rules apply to everyone, regardless of their vaccination status for the coronavirus.
There are three common ideological beliefs about mask mandates at MCPS sporting events: the belief that the current mask mandate status is good, the belief that mask mandates at MCPS sporting events should be implemented to outdoor sports, and the belief that there should be no mask mandates at MCPS sporting events.
A vast amount of people are not concerned with catching COVID-19 at outdoor sporting events in MCPS, due to the fact that in open-air, the chances of contracting COVID-19 tend to be relatively low. Because of this, many see mask mandates at outdoor sporting events to be pointless and not enforceable. Before attending a football match at Walter Johnson High School (WJ), WJ Senior Ethan Woo was asked how he would feel if masks were mandated at the match he was about to attend. “I think that it would be redundant and nobody would abide by a mask mandate at sporting events,” Woo said, “especially due to the fact that it’s outside.”
However, in indoor settings, where COVID-19 droplets are not pushed away by open air, the chances of contracting the coronavirus are far higher than they’d be if the setting were outdoors. Because of this, many people want to keep mask mandates for spectators at MCPS sporting events the same: requiring them at indoor events, encouraging them at outdoor events.
Despite the lower chance of getting the coronavirus when being outdoors, there are still many people who feel unsafe at outdoor MCPS sporting events when masks are not mandated. A big part of this has to deal with the nature of outdoor sporting events in MCPS. Many outdoor sports in MCPS, especially football, account for some of the largest spectator turnouts of all sports offered in Maryland. These sporting events can get so packed that there is not enough room for more people to enter the stadium, causing there to be nonexistent social distancing. On top of that, a majority of spectators at MCPS outdoor sporting events choose not to wear their masks. An anonymous junior at Montgomery Blair High School that recently attended a big football game at his school, worries about a potential surge of COVID-19 cases at his school since there were so many people and almost none of them wore their masks. “Since it was so crammed up with no mask and lots of screaming, it might have increased COVID-19 cases at school,” the student said. “A mask mandate would have prevented this.”
While there are lots of reasons to call for mask mandates for spectators at MCPS sporting events, there are many statistics that favor not requiring them. Most schools in MCPS have very few positive cases of COVID-19, almost all of the eligible population in Montgomery County are vaccinated, and COVID-19 cases are decreasing throughout the country.
However, MCPS students still believe that COVID-19 is a present danger, and because of that, we must resume to live our lives as they once were before the pandemic. Another huge argument about requiring masks at indoor sporting events in MCPS is the low spectator turnout rates, so they are not superspreader events for the coronavirus. A notable exception to this is basketball. The hope is by basketball season, however, COVID-19 cases could be low enough to the point where it would be considered safe to watch games without masks.
Regardless of everybody’s stance on masks at MCPS sporting events, everybody has the same goal: keeping the community safe from COVID-19. Let’s hope that regardless of how mask mandates may or may not change in the future at MCPS sporting events, that the county can enjoy watching good matchups and stay safe.
Written by Darius Kamrad of Walter Johnson High School
Photo courtesy of Phil Fabrizio