In this topsy-turvy coronavirus world, it’s time for high school football.
For the past year the state has been run by executive orders from Gov. Roy Cooper, but now with the North Carolina legislature in session, that one man rule of the state is becoming more difficult.
According to Cooper, who has repeatedly said that he makes his decisions based on “the science, the data and the facts,” only 100 people can attend a high school football game regardless of where it is played.
It’s hard to understand how according to the science, data and facts it is only safe for 100 people to attend a high school football game whether that game is played at a field with bleachers that seat 500 or at a stadium that will seat 20,000, but that is currently the regulation in the state.
Some restaurants in the state at 50 percent capacity can still seat more people than can attend an outdoor high school football game under Cooper’s executive orders.
But help for high school football fans may be on the way. Senate Bill 116 would increase the attendance limit to 40 percent of the facility’s capacity.
Rather than go through the process of passing the bill and sending it to Cooper to sign it, veto it or, as he is doing with the school reopening bill, sit on it, the three sponsors of the bill have asked Cooper to simply revise his executive order.
So far the legislature has had difficulty getting cooperation from Cooper on COVID-19 issues, but the fact that a petition urging an increase in attendance limits at outdoor high school sporting events has over 45,000 signatures may make a difference.
If Cooper won’t revise the executive order and won’t sign the bill, the very least Cooper could do is release the science, data and facts that support his executive order limiting attendance at outdoor high school sporting events, including football, to 100 people regardless of the size of the venue.
