There is no way to predict in May where California will be in late-July when it comes to concerns over the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. It seems increasingly doubtful that mass gatherings will be allowed by then.
California's governor, Gavin Newsom, this week stated that it is "difficult to imagine" NFL stadiums—or sports venues in general—filled with fans before there is a vaccine.
"It's difficult for me and imagine what the league, broadly leagues, do when one or two of their key personnel or players are tested positive," Newsom said via the Los Angeles Times. "Do they quarantine the rest of the team if an offensive lineman is practicing with a defensive lineman, and they are tested positive? What happens to the rest of the line? What happens for the game coming up next weekend?"
More local to Santa Clara, one county official can't envision sports venues, like Levi's Stadium and the SAP Center, being allowed to host events before Thanksgiving at the earliest, "if they are lucky."
"This is not something that's going to be easy to do," said Santa Clara County executive officer Dr. Jeffrey Smith.
We don't know how social distancing orders will impact the NFL season, which is scheduled to kick off in September. The restrictions could also affect San Francisco's plans for its training camp, which usually begins in late-July.
General manager John Lynch spoke with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area this week and was asked if the 49ers had already started looking into contingency plans for training camp, possibly even holding the practices outside of California.
"You always have to be prepared for everything," Lynch responded. "And I think this pandemic that we're going through, there's so much unknown. It kind of changes day to day. So, yes, you have to prepare for everything. We're in great talks with our state and local officials, trying to learn as much as we can, but you have to prepare for everything, the unknowns.
"I won't get into specifics there, but we'll be prepared in the event that -- we're trying to prepare ourselves for just about anything because there really isn't a lot -- I wish I could tell you, 'Here's how it's going to go.' No one knows that, right now, and we're all kind of eagerly awaiting information."
Added Lynch: "The people that put together training camp, the logistical team and all that, we've got to prepare for a bunch of different scenarios."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.