MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The University of Memphis Tigers football team is returning to the Liberty Bowl Stadium on Saturday for its season opener. Doctors are worried, without a capacity limit inside the stadium, it will be a superspreader of Covid-19.
The Liberty Bowl Stadium said it will follow any guidelines the Shelby County Health Department puts in place for crowded outdoor events. The latest health directive encourages those who are unvaccinated to wear a mask in crowded outdoor spaces.
"Per the latest Shelby County Health Department guidelines, all fans, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear masks in indoor spaces at the Liberty Bowl," the University of Memphis Athletics said. "Masks are encouraged outdoors if unable to practice social distancing."
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Hiren Pokharna said with the return of thousands of fans to the stadium attending the game might be a risk as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to surge.
"Extremely risky especially because we know at this particular point in time we have the age groups between 20 to 40 who are being most infected," Pokharna said.
Even with much fewer cases this time last year, tailgating was not allowed and fans had to sit 6 to 12 feet away from one another inside the stadium.
This season, with current a seven-day average of 652 news cases, there are not any capacity limits and masks are not required, except for indoor areas such as the press box and event spaces. Workers and staff inside the stadium will have to be masked up throughout the game or any event.
"It should be our moral responsibility that we do what we can," Pokharna said. "Everybody should be wearing a mask. If possible please again sit separated out, sit at a distance."
Pokharna said if you want to attend any big events or games, make sure you are vaccinated.
"I think that is the key here we sometimes don’t realize that it’s just not about us," Pokharna said. "It’s about how we can spread this and with the Delta variant we know one person probably infects another six to eight people. So think about it that way, it’s not just about you."
The Liberty Bowl Stadium will not be requiring proof of vaccination to enter. It couldn't say whether that policy will change at any point this season.