Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Posted on 08/21/2021 1:20:33 PM PDT by lightman
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State won’t require fans at Nittany Lions football games this fall to present proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to gain entrance to Beaver Stadium, vice president of intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour said Saturday.
“The required vaccination is not in our plan at this point,” Barbour said over Zoom.
On Friday, Oregon and Oregon State became the first Power Five football programs to announce they will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend games at Autzen Stadium and Reser Stadium, respectively, this fall.
Earlier this month, Tulane became the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to announce a similar requirement.
Barbour, though, doesn’t foresee that as a requirement at Penn State, which is still planning on hosting full capacity crowds at 107,000-seat Beaver Stadium. The season opener against Ball State is exactly three weeks from Saturday. The Nittany Lions are scheduled to open the season in exactly two weeks at Wisconsin in front of a capacity crowd at Camp Randall Stadium.
“Our plan is for [full] capacity,” Barbour said. “I remember last spring saying we want to get to a point where everyone who wants and can get a ticket can come in and that’s where we stand right now.”
The university does not have a vaccination mandate for its students, but unvaccinated students will be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
Earlier this month, Penn State instituted an indoor masking requirement for all individuals on campus regardless of vaccination status. Barbour said that includes the press boxes and suites at Beaver Stadium, but fans in the stands and on the concourses will not be required to wear masks.
“We’re not going to require masking outdoors unless the CDC were to change its guidance,” Barbour said. “We certainly would monitor and review that. But if someone feels that that’s what they want to do from a health and safety standpoint, wear a mask, that certainly is encouraged.”
Still, Barbour acknowledged that given how quickly things have changed at times over the past year — especially with a current nationwide surge of cases because of the Delta variant — there is the chance that Penn State would have to adjust its plans.
Earlier Friday, Hawaii became the first major program to announce it will not host fans at its sporting events to start the season because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
On Friday, Pennsylvania announced 2,128 new COVID-19 cases and 19 new deaths from the virus. As of Thursday, 80.7% of Pennsylvanians 18 or older had received at least one vaccine dose and 64.7% were fully vaccinated. Nationally, 73% of adults have received at least one dose and 62% are fully vaccinated.
Barbour said the university still has its plans from last year when there was the possibility of playing games in front of limited crowds before the Big Ten ultimately decided to conduct its contests closed to the general public. But the focus remains on having full capacity crowds at Beaver Stadium.
“I think flexibility … is something that certainly has to go along with a public health issue like COVID,” Barbour said. “Again, it’s not the plan at this point. We would have to do see what the advice was from the CDC and our local health authorities and then what the issues are, whether it be yes, capacity, but the local authorities want to go to — suggest we go to mask wearing or if it’s something from a capacity standpoint. But that is not what the plans are at this point in time.”
Barbour said she’s “heartened” by seeing other sporting events, including Major League Baseball games and the Olympics, take place all over the world, and she’s looking forward to the game day environment in State College.
Still, the 2021 college football season is arriving with layers of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.
“My concerns are the same that we all have for our community and that we be smart and we use good judgment as it relates to the science,” Barbour said. “I’m very hopeful and forward-thinking and forward-looking as it relates to us being back together with our fans that we’ve missed so desperately, and I know they’ve missed our student-athletes.”
Live and let live.
The blue and white skies of FREEDOM!
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
PSU can’t make the players get vaxxed.
Trying to make the fans submit is a money loser.
At this time?
good news. our side is beginning to win.
I’m very surprised by this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed their minds! As a PSU alum and fan, the town and university has already moved to the loony left.
indeed, very telling data.
i think the salient and definitive comparison at this point is given by the actions and numbers from Israel vs. Sweden.
it is, sadly for us, that comparison tells the most complete tale of sars cov 2 (i.e., the CCP bioweapon).
Jerry Sandusky approves. He wants to see their faces.
The cynic in me says this is more about ticket sales than freedom. The decision to allow fans to exercise the power to make decisions for themselves just happens to conveniently overlap in this situation.
Could it be the increase is due mostly to people be more out and about and more crowds?
At some point, we have to ‘let ‘er rip!”
If you knew the true facts of the case, you’d know Jerry Sandusky never abused anyone and that JoePA was railroaded. Don’t believe the pre-MeToo mob with PSU.
Every U.S. college and university has gone "loony left." If I'm not correct about that, tell me which school in the U.S. still hasn't gone loony left. Enquiring minds want to know.
Hillsdale?
Hilarious...for once the elites and media get the muzzle while the peasants roam barefaced and free!
EVERYTHING is about the GREEN! ALL decisions are made by profit and power with profit the strongest motivator. Anything that goes “red” is dead.
Big 10 is big bucks.
Hey, PSU students...
Alex Berenson
@AlexBerenson
Hey, guess which drugmaker does NOT make employees get a Covid vaccine?
And has up to 20 percent of US employees NOT vaccinated?
And is tightening rules but STILL won’t mandate shots?
Hint: it probably made the Covid vaccine you got
Okay, twist my arm! It’s
@pfizer
, sillies.
10:15 AM · Aug 11, 2021
‘...you’d know Jerry Sandusky never abused anyone...’
yep, all the stalking and thigh stroking were just recruiting techniques...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.