Garcetti said large sports gatherings likely would not be able to happen for the rest of the yearGETTY IMAGES
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti reiterated it “would be very difficult to see” large gatherings of fans for sporting events and concerts before ’21 unless something changes and public health officials give the “green light.” Garcetti yesterday said, "Nothing I’ve heard would indicate that we would be in those large, thousands-of-people gatherings anytime soon and probably not for the rest of this year." He explained, "Until there’s either a vaccine, some sort of pharmaceutical intervention or herd immunity, the science is the science and public health officials have been very clear: we’ve got many, many miles to walk before we’re going to be back in those environments." He concluded, "I hope perhaps we can watch sports events without audiences on TV" (“The Situation Room,” CNN, 4/15). Garcetti's CNN appearance came after an internal LAFD email stated that L.A. may “hold off on allowing big gatherings” until next year. In L.A., Smith & Welsh reported Garcetti “raised the issue during his weekly briefing Monday with a group of high-level staff from several departments.” The email states that Garcetti indicated during the conference call that “large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city for at least 1 year.” Garcetti spokesperson Alex Comisar said that the mayor “doesn’t have a timeline for Los Angeles to begin resuming large-scale events” (L.A. TIMES, 4/15).
HAVE TO TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES: N.Y. Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that people "are all missing sports," but said it is "going to a while” before fans could attend sporting events in the city. De Blasio said, “If we move too quick, we put 50,000 people in Yankee Stadium and that’s part of why you see a resurgence of the disease, that would be the worst of all worlds.” De Blasio said bringing back sports will happen "later in the trajectory” because it has to be proven that officials "can contain this disease.” De Blasio: "You can’t have sporting events and big crowds until you can prove that you’ve brought this disease down to something very limited and you’re holding there. One false move (and) take our foot off the gas, we will regret it. We’ve got one chance to actually contain this thing and then we can do a proper, smart restart” (“New Day,” CNN, 4/15).
NOT A KEY PRIORITY: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine yesterday repeated his stance from earlier in the week that sports returning with fans is among the "last thing you open back up." He said, "You're going to start to try to get some businesses back who can practice the distancing and do those things before you're able to open up to the big concerts (and games)” (“The Lead,” CNN, 4/15).
