Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers opened Globe Life Field a month ago. There’s been no COVID spike
No sport is as tied to its statistics as baseball.
Home runs, RBIs, batting average, wins, losses and ERA have been joined over the past decade by OPS+, RE24, XWOBA, FIP and WPA.
And, in the past 14 months, COVID-19 seven-day case averages, hospital bed occupancy rates and percentage of fully vaccinated people are key baseball stats.
Rob Matwick, the Texas Rangers’ executive vice president who oversees operations at Globe Life Field, looks at the COVID numbers every day.
The Rangers started the season as the only MLB team to open their ballpark to full capacity in the midst of a pandemic, and the Rangers and Matwick have been in the cross hairs of those still fearful that a large crowd will cause a COVID spike.
President Joe Biden called the Rangers’ decision irresponsible. Vinny Taneja, director of the Tarrant County Public Health Department, said the Rangers were asking for trouble with the Rangers permitting up to 40,518 fans a game.
More than a month after the April 5 home opener, though, cases in Tarrant County are on the decline.
“I don’t believe that I’ve seen a spike in cases based on the numbers I read in the papers every day, so that’s encouraging,” Matwick said earlier this week. “Like all of us I’m looking at great interest in the numbers to see if there’s been any type of significant increase, but also because I want to see them go down. I’m an interested observer, like so many of us, because I want to see the virus eradicated. There’s still work to be done.”
Vaccines changing context
The COVID vaccine has been a game-changer for large gatherings, said Dr. Diana Cervantes, the director of the epidemiology program at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
Some of the lingering concerns might be based on the situation 12 months ago, before the vaccine and before more than 250,000 contracted the disease in Tarrant County.
“When people see those images on TV, they think back to a year ago,” she said. “If they saw that a year ago, then, yeah, that would be alarming because there was no vaccine and not that many people had been infected and we’re really asking for a huge spike. Now, a year later, we are in a very different situation.”
Many residents are still observing mask requirements and are also mindful of their personal circumstances, from being at higher risk for COVID-19 or not being fully vaccinated.
People who are high-risk need still need to be careful. The vaccine is not 100% effective, though very close, and high-risk vaccinated people are still getting sick and even dying.
It’s probably not wise for a 90-year-old to go to a Rangers game, Cervantes said, but vaccinated people who have no underlying conditions shouldn’t have many concerns.
“I think we will continue seeing little blips here and there. I don’t think we’re going to see huge spikes,” Cervantes said.
“There’s still a lot we need to learn about people who are at highest risk because there’s going to be variability. If you’re going to go out and partake in large events, the vaccine is widely available and you should do that. I think more and more the public health message is that. You are protected and you are protecting others.”
What are Rangers seeing?
The Rangers return home Friday for a three-game weekend series against the Seattle Mariners. The only sellout this season was the April 5 opener, a crowd of 38,238, and the Rangers drew 35,219 on Saturday for a game against the Boston Red Sox.
The Rangers lead baseball in attendance with an average of 25,475 over 16 games. The Houston Astros are second at 17,522, but Minute Maid Park is open to only 50% capacity.
The Atlanta Braves are third at 15,763 and they will jump to full capacity (41,084) this weekend at Truist Field.
Matwick said that no one with the county has reached out to the Rangers with concerns or told them they ought to reconsider full capacity.
He said fans have mostly complied with the ballpark mask requirement while entering and exiting the ballpark and while on the concourse standing in line for concessions.
But he admits that compliance while fans are in their seats has been mixed. That’s evident when fans are shown on the video board between innings, when even people in the same group aren’t all wearing their masks.
“I wouldn’t even try to put a percentage on it,” Matwick said. “We do see better compliance on the entry and on the concourses than we have in the seats so far.”
Tarrant County’s seven-day average COVID cases was at 1,300 on April 10. It was down to 999 on May 1.
Texts and email requests to the county to speak with Taneja about case specifics were not returned.
It’s very difficult to pinpoint any rise in cases on a Rangers game because the incubation period is so long, Cervantes said, and people very likely aren’t going only to Rangers games and not seeing anyone else after visiting Globe Life Field.
That doesn’t mean people didn’t get sick after a Rangers game, however.
“It’s really hard to say it’s definitely the Rangers,” she said. “Typically what you see is people don’t just go to a sporting event. What usually happens is, ‘Hey, we’re going to go to this game. Let’s have dinner before, let’s get drinks, and then afterward let’s get together.
“In general you are increasing the chances of people having more social activities and being closer together, and that’s going to increase risk.”
Cervantes’ advice for anyone, whether they want to attend a Rangers game or just get back closer to the pre-COVID norms, is to get vaccinated.
“It makes such a huge difference,” she said.
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