Quad Cities River Bandits Lift Face Covering Requirements Effective Immediately

After the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated people can resume all normal activities they did prior to the pandemic, Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) announced that fans will no longer be required to wear a mask inside stadiums. The River Bandits, being a part of MiLB, are also dropping all face covering requirements and will allow fans to sit in the first few rows which were originally setup as a "buffer zone."

In a press release on Thursday following the CDC's updated guidelines for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the River Bandits announced that face covering requirements will be lifted effective immediately. The press release said,

Under new guidelines from Major League Baseball (MLB), the Quad Cities River Bandits have updated health and safety policies related to fan attendance and have eliminated the “buffer zone” between ballpark seating and the playing surface. Now, every seat in the ballpark can be sold, effective immediately.
In addition, MLB’s minimum policy on face coverings for attendees has been eliminated and fans entering Modern Woodmen Park will no longer be asked to wear a facemask at River Bandits home games beginning on Thursday, May 13, against the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
“Having professional affiliated baseball playing in the Quad Cities is a great sign that our community is returning to normal,” said River Bandits owner Dave Heller. “Being able to sell the best seats in the park, instead of holding them empty, allows us to get that much closer to the way things were before the pandemic – and that’s what we’re all looking forward to.”

According to the CDC's updated guidelines, these are things that fully vaccinated can start to do again:

• You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
• You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
• If you travel in the United States, you do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
• You need to pay close attention to the situation at your international destination before traveling outside the United States.
  • You do NOT need to get tested before leaving the United States unless your destination requires it.
  • You still need to show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States.
  • You should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel.
  • You do NOT need to self-quarantine after arriving in the United States.
• If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms.
  • However, if you live or work in a correctional or detention facility or a homeless shelter and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.