Former Packers coach Holmgren critical of Trump response to pandemic, as GB puts indefinite hold on fans at Lambeau
The Green Bay Packers announced Tuesday there won’t be fans at Lambeau Field this season unless there is significant improvement in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“We are very concerned with the rate of infection in our area,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. “We are trending in the wrong direction in terms of hospitalization and positive cases, and based on recommendations from community healthcare and public health officials, hosting fans at the stadium for games is not advisable at this time.
“We all need to take the pandemic seriously and do our part to reduce the spread of the virus, which should lead to significant improvement in the rates of infection and hospitalizations. At that point we’ll be able to experience games in person.”
Former Packers coach Mike Holmgren, who led Green Bay to Super Bowl XXXI championship in 1996, was again critical of President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic.
“Today’s announcement makes one thing very clear — President Trump’s failure to mount a forceful response to the coronavirus pandemic has profound consequences for Green Bay’s economy,” Holmgren wrote in a statement. “… We are now months into this crisis, cases are surging across Wisconsin, and President Trump still doesn’t have a plan to get the virus under control. It doesn’t have to be this bad.”
Statewide, Wisconsin added another 2,020 cases, 108 hospitalizations and 18 deaths. The state is averaging 2,346 cases a day the past week. It’s the second-most hospitalizations in the state. The most occurred Oct. 1 (109). The state is also averaging 14 deaths a day the past week.
Each lost game costs Brown County about $15 million in economic income, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette. Eight regular-season games, along with the Wisconsin Badgers-Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football game, it amounts to about $135 million in losses.
Five teams allowed fans last weekend, led by the Dallas Cowboys allowing at least 20,000. The Kansas City Chiefs had around 16,000, while the Miami Dolphins and and Houston Texans were at 13,000. The Cincinnati Bengals rounded out the teams with fans at 6,000.