The San Jose Sharks were advised by the county to cancel a game due to coronavirus. They refused.
The San Jose Sharks said Thursday they were proceeding with a scheduled game that evening against the Minnesota Wild, despite a recommendation from Santa Clara County that a large event of that nature be canceled or postponed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Sharks Sports & Entertainment is aware of the recommendations made today by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and we continue to actively monitor the situation,” the team said in a statement provided to The Post. “Tonight’s Sharks/Minnesota Wild game will go on as scheduled. We will be evaluating further upcoming events in the coming days.”
The team said in its statement that its arena, the SAP Center: “undergoes a rigorous cleaning procedure after each and every event, with particular attention paid to high-traffic, high public-contact areas. . . . Many areas will receive additional, enhanced measures throughout the course of events for the foreseeable future.”
A spokesman for the team did not provide details about those enhanced measures and didn’t say if the Sharks had received guidance from the NHL about staging the game.
A spokesman for the Wild had no comment on the team playing in San Jose despite the county’s recommendation.
At a news conference Thursday, officials from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department announced they had 20 confirmed cases of covid-19 in their county. That represented an increase of six additional cases, they said, from what they reported the day before.
Of the 20 cases, officials said four were travel-related, nine had contacts with other known covid-19 cases and seven had “no known travel or direct contact with other known cases.” In one of the cases, the person who contracted the virus had made a full recovery, and officials said many of the other patients had “very mild or no symptoms of illness at all.”
Asked at the news conference if the county’s recommendations included Sharks games specifically, an official confirmed that was the case.
“Similar to other parts of the world that have taken proactive steps to slow the spread of novel coronavirus, the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department is taking steps to protect our community,” a county official said in a statement provided to The Post. “This includes recommendations to postpone or cancel mass gatherings and large community events where large numbers of people are within arm’s length of one another.
“We understand that some sports team in communities around the world making similar recommendations have decided to play to empty stadiums, rather than canceling their events. Event organizers must make their own decisions regarding how they will proceed in light of recommendations from public health officials.”
As coronavirus continues to spread, event organizers around the world are grappling with the fallout. Some college basketball programs in the U.S. have begun canceling road games, and the NCAA said Tuesday, “Today we are planning to conduct our championships as planned, however, we are evaluating the covid-19 situation daily and will make decisions accordingly.”
The Sharks asked fans at SAP Center to observe the following guidelines:
“Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
“If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
“Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
“Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Stay home when you are sick.
“Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash and clean your hands.”
Thursday’s news conference in San Jose provided a lighter moment when Santa Clara County Health Officer and Public Health Director Sara Cody referred to a widely noted incident the day before. At a news conference on Wednesday, she had advised people, “Start working on not touching your face,” before almost immediately licking a finger to turn a page in her notes.
“I want to acknowledge that it’s tough for me, too, to not touch my eyes, nose and mouth,” she said Thursday with a chuckle. “It’s hard, and that’s why we’ve been saying it’s something that we all need to think about, and we need to practice. It’s very natural for humans to touch our faces, and we each need to try not to do it.”
Of the implications of the county’s recommendation to postpone or cancel large events, Cody said: “It’s a hardship, and this is going to be a change for our community and a change in our county. But it’s really important, and this is the time when we all need to take a deep breath and come together.”
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