COVID and Sports: New Nevada Indoor Mask Mandate Means All Fans At Gold Cup Soccer Match At Allegiant Stadium Will Be Required To Wear Face Coverings Sunday

Well, this should be interesting.

The biggest indoor crowd that’s supposed to be wearing masks in Las Vegas is scheduled for Sunday when a sellout crowd for a prominent international soccer match fills the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.

The state indoor mask mandate goes into effect in Las Vegas and Clark County Friday — only two days before the Concacaf Gold Cup championship game, which sold out in 90 minutes.

It’s an international soccer showdown inside the domed 65,000-seat stadium and many of the fans will be visitors who might not be aware of the state mask mandate announced earlier this week in light of surge of COVID cases in Southern Nevada. The Gold Cup championship is held every two years and crowns the soccer champ from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

UPDATE: It will be USA vs Mexico at 5:30PM Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

The CDC recommended all people — vaccinated and unvaccinated — where masks indoors in COVID-19 hot spots around the country like Clark County and Las Vegas. A county spokesman confirmed all fans at the Gold Cup game in Allegiant Stadium will be required to mask up.

The Delta variant of COVID is driving up test positivity rates as Delta spreads twice as easily than the earlier virus strain.

People in Nevada are not exactly coming out in droves to get immunized against a virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans. Free COVID vaccinations have been given at all types of clinics from those set up outside T-Mobile Arena and along the Strip to even inside the stadium that is hosting Sunday’s Gold Cup soccer game.

Vaccines slow the spread of COVID and save lives. State officials liked that nearly two percent of unvaccinated Nevadans got their first COVID shot this week.

During a state media zoom session on COVID today, LVSportsBiz.com asked the experts about the level of concern of having 60,000 people inside a stadium during a COVID surge.

“There’s always risk of transmission,” said Michelle White, the governor’s chief of staff.

The soccer match inside the stadium will comply with all local COVID protocols, a spokesman said.