LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Have your vaccination cards at the ready if you want to head into Allegiant Stadium to see the Las Vegas Raiders play. Dr. Michael Gardner, the vice dean of clinical affairs at UNLV, says if you’ve been fully vaccinated you should be safe without wearing a mask.
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Dr. Gardner told us being in a large crowd with other fully vaccinated people and no masks is a lower risk compared to being next to unvaccinated people without masks.
Keep in mind, being fully vaccinated doesn't prevent you from getting or spreading the virus.
"We know when people are singing or yelling they project more. You want to make sure that you have people that have a very low chance of being infected. Notice how I said low and not zero," says Gardner
So it shouldn't prevent you from going to games where the crowd is fully vaccinated and not wearing masks.
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Dr. Gardner gave us this analogy, saying, "These are the privileges you get for doing the right thing. Some of you, for whatever reason you have chosen not to, you don’t get to participate in things. You can choose not to get a driver's license. That’s your right. That doesn’t mean you get to drive a car."
People haven’t been denied entry to a football game or required to do these things before with other viruses, like the flu, but Dr. Gardner says there is a difference.
"The difference between the flu and COVID is simple. In a really bad year of the flu, we lose 50 to 60,000 people. We’ve lost over 600,000 people. That’s 10 years of the flu. That’s 10 years of really bad flu," said Gardner
The Raiders are set to play at home against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 13, so if you want to get the vaccine, you still have time.
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