38,238. That's how many people packed the stands at Globe Life Field for the Texas Rangers' April 5 home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, according to the NYT. That amid a more-than-year-long pandemic that has claimed the lives of 550,000 in the U.S. go.nowth.is/2Q2CPZK
Photographs show a substantially maskless crowd seated almost shoulder to shoulder, row on top of row. According to the NYT, 94.8% of the stadium's seats were filled. The game is considered the largest gathering for a U.S. sporting event in more than a year.
According to the Rangers' ballpark safety protocols, fans were required to wear masks except when 'actively eating or drinking at their ticketed seats,' including 'all concourse areas and when entering Globe Life Field.'
Others have shown disapproval for the full-capacity game. In an interview with CNN, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) called the packed stadium a 'disaster.' Lee added: 'I’m enormously disappointed, and it was a wrong confrontation in the face of reality.'
Before the game, President Joe Biden had called the decision to fill the stadium a 'mistake.'
📸: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
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