Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]
The San Francisco Forty-Niners will play at least their next two home games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, because Santa Clara County announced Saturday new restrictive measures related to COVID-19.
"The Cardinals organization, State Farm Stadium and league officials have been supportive and accommodating as we work through the many logistical issues involved in relocating NFL games," the Bay Area team said in a statement.
As such, the Forty-Niners will host the Buffalo Bills in Arizona for a Monday night game on Dec. 7, as well as Washington on Sunday, Dec. 13.
The Forty-Niners are still working to define where they will practice for the next few weeks. While their preference is to stay in the Bay Area to practice during the week and fly to Arizona for the games, this plan may not be logistically feasible.
For his part, coach Kyle Shanahan said he was disappointed by the way they found out they would have to find a new home to play in the coming weeks: during their flight to face the Los Angeles Rams over the weekend.
"I get it: they made that decision and we have to deal with that, but to find out through a tweet or a press conference ... I've got a whole plane coming up to me, wives, girlfriends, family members and kids saying they found out we might be out all of December."
"We are human like everybody else, and it's a big problem to leave your family for the whole of December, a big problem, as everybody knows... We need to find a place where we can feel safe and stay because we won't be able to go to our homes anymore to make them safe. So, we will have to stay in a hotel or somewhere."
Notably, Santa Clara County announced Saturday that the number of residents who have been infected with COVID-19 and the number of hospitalized patients continues to climb significantly, reaching record levels since the start of the pandemic.
On that day alone, 760 new cases and 239 hospitalizations were recorded, of which 71 are in the intensive care unit. So, to reduce the likelihood of an increase in hospitalizations that exceeds the capacity of hospitals, were announced several changes to the directives that accompany the Risk Reduction Order of the Public Health Officer.
The changes include requiring certain sectors to modify their operations to increase security, reducing the number of people allowed on the premises at any one time, and reducing the size of outdoor gatherings.
For professional, collegiate and youth sports, all recreational activities involving physical contact or proximity to persons outside the home, including all contact sports, were temporarily prohibited.
