Fans walking into the Kibbie Dome for last Saturday’s football game, pitting the Vandals against the Eagles, were greeted with thermal scanners along with countless reminders to wear masks and social distance. Despite the flyers, scanners, signs, enforcement and videos reminding fans of the protocols, many groups of fans didn’t comply.
Contrary to enforcement protocols set forth by the University of Idaho, stating noncompliance would result in a reminder to wear a mask or keep six feet from others and possibly being asked to leave if things escalated, many groups went without receiving a warning.
“All of the protocols we have in place were reviewed with and supported by the public health district,” Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said. “So, there was a very thoughtful approach to our COVID-19 protocols and I would say it went really well. Does that mean it was perfect? I’m going to say no.”
Eckles said education rather than confrontation is the primary mode of communication to try and get audiences engaged with and participating in COVID-19 safety practices. He said the university is looking to have individuals be responsible for their actions and behavior in order to make things work.
“We kind of take the approach that education is key for everything that we do,” Eckles said. “Informing folks, letting them know, having expectations that they will also respond to the other complaints that we may feel from folks. And we do have that. We then work to address it and engage with them in regards to doing that.”
Associate Director of Events and Conferences Jeremy Barron said the non-police enforcement at the Kibbie Dome on game day focused on educating and reminding people as well as avoiding confrontational interactions.
“We have ushers in every single aisle who typically would walk up and down the aisle and would address any social distancing issues,” Barron said. “When we could we would address mask issues. So, our staff would go down and speak to somebody, and be friendly and encourage them to put their mask back on. If it gets to the point where we get somebody who just simply is not willing to comply, at that point we’ll ask security to help us take care of the issue.”
Prepackaged concessions were sold throughout the game, so deciding which people were eating and which were simply hanging out without masks was another issue posed to the enforcement team.
“Football games are long events, between the time you open gates and stay for the duration of the game,” Barron said. “So, it’s really difficult to say ‘no food or drinks’ within the facility. When you’re in a building for four or five hours, you’re going to want something to eat, something to drink, and we decided to do concessions so we could allow people to have those resources.”
According to Idaho protocols for Stage 3 of Idaho Rebounds, the Kibbie Dome could have operated at 40% capacity but the university chose to lower that to about 20%, or about 3,000 people.
“The reason we did that was so we could provide a socially distanced atmosphere for everybody,” Barron said. “If we were to go up to 6,000 people we wouldn’t be able to separate groups by six feet.”
Eckles said the university will continue to interact with the community and educate them about why the protocols matter. Barron confirmed this plan of action, saying they get “better results” that way.
Barron said they did receive a few complaints from people about mask mandates and safety while at the game and Eckles said he hadn’t received any at all by Thursday. Barron said the ushers did have issues with a section on the northeastern side of the Kibbie Dome but clarified that it was not the student section.
“I think the students deserve a lot of credit,” Barron said. “People in the student section, by and large, did exactly what they committed to do as students by following the Vandal Pledge.”
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5