EL PASO, TEXAS (KTSM) — For the first time in a long time, fans will be walking into Southwest University Park to watch Locomotive FC play.
At about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, August 29, the gates will open for 800 fans. That’s about 11 percent of the stadium’s capacity.
The Chief Medical Officer at Del Sol Medical Center says if fans follow the COVID-19 protocols, it should be a low-risk event.
“The city and the community have done the work to hopefully get us to where Locomotive really wants to take us, and that’s potentially opening up sports again,” Dr. Ogechika Alozie the Chief Medical Officer, Del Sol Medical Center told KTSM.
Alozie says that it is exciting that El Pasoans are doing their best to lower the number of COVID-19 cases. However, urges Locomotive fans to err on the side of caution.
“The community is seeing better numbers, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. The analogy or the example I’ll give is, look at Europe. Europe is in a much better situation than we are generally around coronavirus, and they’re still aren’t having soccer games with large crowds or crowds at all,” said Dr. Alozie.
He says Saturday’s game could determine how sporting events will be handled going forward.
“I think this is an experiment that we really have to watch and see what happens, and hopefully it goes well,” said Dr. Alozie.
Fans who go to the game should follow the guild lines, wear a mask and social distance according to Dr. Alozie.
“Going to a soccer game or a large sporting event with a lot of people puts you on the other side of that risk spectrum, and so people really have to make those decisions on their own, I’m not making those decisions for them,” said Dr. Alozie.
According to officials with Locomotive FC, they have worked with community and health leaders to create a safe plan to bring fans back into the stadium.
