Fewer than half of Americans OK to attend sport event: Poll

WASHINGTON: Only 42 per cent of Americans say they are comfortable attending a live ticketed sporting event given COVID-19 risks, according to a poll by the Washington Post and University of Maryland released on Wednesday (Mar 31).

The online poll of 1,500 US adults taken from Mar 12-18 found 40 per cent of Americans were not comfortable attending a sports event and 18 per cent were unsure, with conditions making a major difference.

Only 22 per cent were comfortable with attending a sports event where masks were not required compared to 64 per cent who were comfortable with masks mandatory.

There were 66 per cent of people who were comfortable attending an outdoor sports event such as Major League Baseball, which launches its 2021 campaign on Thursday, with only 32 per cent comfortable attending an indoor sports event such as basketball.

The poll had a margin of error of three percentage points.

The poll found 63 per cent of Americans said it was a large to moderate risk to attend a sporting event, 26 per cent calling it a large risk.

There was a 69 per cent comfort rate in attending events with a 20 per cent capacity limit for spectators, but that fell to 50 per cent when venue capacity for spectators was at 50 per cent.

Regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, there was a 64 per cent comfort rate for those who received the vaccine while that grew to 69 per cent when all attendees had received the vaccine.

Percentages were 56 per cent when attendees were screened for fever or had tested negative for the COVID-19 virus and 54 per cent when regional COVID-19 cases were low.

Among US regions, the most comfortable attending a sports event were people in the Midwest at 47 per cent with those in the South and West at 42 per cent and those in the Northeast at 34 per cent.

Among those in the Midwest, two of three would be comfortable attending an outdoor sports event but only one in three would be so at an indoor event.