OPINION: Unmasked Fans Were Too Fast And Loose In Houston

Watching the PGA TOUR over this past weekend was a totally different experience for one big reason: actual fans in attendance.

My hometown Philadelphia Eagles had the weekend off. There were no other football games I cared about watching. So it was time to settle into my sectional, grab the clicker, set my sights on golf coverage, and indulge in my Sunday afternoon spring tradition in early November.

Carlos Ortiz pushed his way past the other pros en route to his first TOUR win at the Vivint Houston Open (I still want to call it the Shell Houston, but that’s neither here nor there). And what did I see along the ropes? Fans…a couple of thousand fans for each day of the tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Vivint Houston Open (@houopengolf) on Nov 8, 2020 at 2:11pm PST

What did the telecast as well as countless pictures showing the Houston Open display? The majority of the fans in attendance were not wearing a mask or wearing it improperly.

Many people will say to me, “Joe, you’re not an infectious disease expert. These people were outside, and they were distant, and it was warm, and they didn’t need to wear a mask if they didn’t want to.”

Well, considering I had just become symptom free a few days earlier after a long quarantine at home after being exposed to and then testing positive for COVID-19 (which is why I haven’t written any columns lately because my life was preoccupied with coronavirus), my hackles were definitely raised by this nonchalant attitude by the fans and, frankly, piss poor management of the small crowd by the TOUR, its volunteers, and security staff. 

I’m not an infectious disease doctor, not even close. I’m just a guy who grew up in Philly and went to a small state-run university, earned his Marketing degree, and clawed his way to the top in a market to lead a cluster of media properties. So while I’m no doctor, I am a man who believes in science, and yes the office where I work is where I most likely contracted this because of some close quarters exposure to two people who were unknowingly infected at the time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Vivint Houston Open (@houopengolf) on Nov 6, 2020 at 9:31am PST

Even with safety protocols in place, nothing was 100% safe there or at the TOUR event with wearing a mask. But the risks are significantly reduced and they and I still got it. Thankfully, both have fully recovered, feel healthy, and are back to work doing what they love.

I had spent about seven days battling a myriad of symptoms: fevers up to 102℉, a heavy cough, the feeling like a manhole cover was resting on my chest after barely doing anything physical, body aches, congestion, and constantly needing to take a 30 minute nap after working from home for an hour was a gargantuan pain in the ass. Honestly, it was like the worst appetizer sampler of sickness I can remember, with flavors of a bad cold, the flu, pneumonia, and mononucleosis all mixed into one.

Also, I lost a good bit of my sense of taste and all of my sense of smell, both of which have mostly recovered. I’m sure this place smelled pretty damn bad from body air releases of noisy air blasts permeating the fabric of this rental house. 

Sadly, by the time this is published, more than 240,000 Americans won’t be able to go do the work they love, or see those they love, or spend time on Zoom with their friends because this pandemic illness ended their lives. Also, about 1-in-33 Americans have also now been diagnosed, some asymptomatic, some with a variety of symptoms, some hospitalized, and way too many have been lost.

I get it: there are a lot of people who still think this is a hoax or that it was going away with the election. Well, the daily case counts have been rising significantly through the election and today as well, and I can personally tell you this illness is not a joke as this was close to being as bad as the double lung pneumonia I battled when I was just 8 and had to miss almost 3 weeks of school. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Vivint Houston Open (@houopengolf) on Oct 14, 2020 at 2:08pm PDT

The PGA TOUR and its event hosts need to nut up when it comes to security and safety at their events if they want to host fans again. Not wearing a mask or wearing it improperly? Get warned or get gone. Refuse to wear it? Immediate ejection. It doesn’t matter if people are outside because if you’re within 6-feet and unmasked you’re tremendously increasing the risk of infection. The optics of what we saw in live TV coverage and media photos were absolutely atrocious with clusters of people without masks or wearing them in a cavalier fashion.

We have good things on the horizon to help get this in control: vaccines, faster and more wide spread testing, learning more ways to mitigate and prevent this COVID-19 disease from infecting us, and more. But until then we need to realize that in the workplace, in the retail space, and behind the ropes of a golf course watching the stars all require common sense.

Sadly, we’re lacking this common sense, and I’m hoping we’re turning that corner very soon. But the TOUR needs to be damn near militant in enforcing common sense, making sure the limited crowds are safe and smart in their actions or there won’t be crowds again for a good while.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I need to get my Instacart together to make my pimento cheese sandwich mix and meats for barbeque making. Just because we can’t be there at Augusta doesn’t mean we can’t eat like we are.

Cover Image via Instagram