Top U.S. Health Official Recommends NBA Ban Fans from Games

Dr. Anthony Fauci said any large crowd increases the risk of spreading coronavirus.

A top U.S. health official has recommended that the NBA should play games without fans as the coronavirus continues to spread around the country.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said any event that allows large crowds increases the risk of spreading the virus, which is also known as COVID-19. The NBA has continued to allow fans to attend games while reportedly considering how to handle the outbreak.

“We would recommend that there not be large crowds,” Fauci said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “If that means not having any people in the audience when the NBA plays, so be it. But as a public health official, anything that has large crowds is something that would give a risk to spread.”

Fauci's statement was in response to a question about whether the NBA isn't doing enough to address coronavirus concerns, or whether the Ivy League overreacted when it canceled conference tournaments due to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the MAC announced it would play its tournament without fans.

The NBA's board of governors is reportedly planning to meet Thursday to discuss the possibility of moving games to neutral cites and cities that have not yet been impacted by the coronavirus, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Other possibilities include removing fans from arenas for games and suspending play for a period of time, but those options are "complicated" while timetables for testing or vaccines are unknown.

The NBA is one of four major sports leagues to restrict media members and non-essential personnel from locker rooms. Players have also been recommended to limit contact with fans. 

The NBA has also warned teams to prepare to play games without fans and to create contingency plans in case "it were to become necessary to play a game with only essential staff present." 

Different states have implemented their own guidelines for limiting large gatherings. On Wednesday, the D.C. Health Department recommended “non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions, be postponed or canceled. Mass gatherings are defined as events where 1,000 or more people congregate in a specific location.” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended only "athletes, parents and others essential to the game" attend indoor sporting events across the state, no matter their level.

San Francisco has also banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people for two weeks, including Warriors games. Golden State later announced that the team's game on Thursday against the Nets will be played without fans.

Meanwhile, the Wizards announced that their games will go on as scheduled and open to the public after consulting with the NBA. 

The United States has more than 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, while the global total is nearly 120,000.