CLEVELAND — While the mask mandate at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is set to expire after Monday, the arena plans to move forward with a new mask advisory beginning on Tuesday.
The Cleveland Cavaliers confirmed to 3News that it will be adopting a mask advisory that is in line with the one that Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb issued for all indoor spaces in the city earlier this month. On Monday, Mayor Bibb announced that the mask advisory, which strongly encourages, but does not mandate, the wearing of masks will remain in effect throughout the NBA All-Star Weekend, which will take place from February 18-20.
“I believe that it’s important to give people the choice," Mayor Bibb said at a press conference announcing the city's All-Star weekend policies on Monday. "As you’ve seen across the country, mandates have a lot of backlash. It’s critical that we encourage personal responsibility. Having a mask advisory indoors, we thought, was the most prudent thing to do -- particularly given counsel from our law department and experts inside our public health department because enforcing that can be a challenge."
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will host the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 20, as well as various All-Star-related events throughout the weekend. While masks will be encouraged but not required, those attending ticketed events who are older than five-years-old will be required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (PCR test 48 hours before or antigen test the day of) before entering the arena.