Penn State football: no masks, no vaccination proof for attendance at football games

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – Penn State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour says Nittany Lion football fans will not be required to wear masks in open air areas of Beaver Stadium this fall and the school will not require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. She made her comments in an online session with reporters on Saturday.

But she said the policy could change, based on changing circumstances: “We’re not going to require masking outdoors unless the CDC were to change its guidance. We certainly will monitor and review that, but if someone feels that’s what they want to do from a health and safety standpoint, wear a mask, that that certainly is encouraged.”

“We have to be conscious. It’s no longer COVID as the overarching; it’s, we’re having the event and we’ve got to plug the, the COVID considerations into it. I certainly would encourage as many as (possible), and I know that lots of folks out there are, to be vaccinated; I would encourage folks that want to wear masks to certainly do that. It’s not required (outdoors on campus), but I certainly don’t want someone that wants to wear a mask to feel like they’re going to be looked at strangely.

Barbour said masks won’t be required in open air areas; these include outdoor stadium seating, the stadium concourse and parking lots. She did say press box occupants and fans in stadium suites must be masked.

Barbour said she believes Penn State’s “done a great job of balancing the health and safety needs, as well as everything else that’s going on in our world right now.” She noted masks still must be worn for indoor events on campus, including the Bryce Jordan Center and the Pegula Ice Arena.

Beaver Stadium seats 107,000 people. Barbour said, “That’s completely up to you whether you want to or you don’t want to, and I think we just have to be smart and understand that the virus is with us, and we need to use our good judgment around that, but come to Beaver Stadium and enjoy football Saturday for the first time in a couple years.”

Penn State is scheduled to open the new season at Wisconsin on Sept. 4, with a home opener Sept. 11 with Ball State.