While San Francisco and five other Bay Area counties and cities begin sheltering in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus within the region, the Warriors reportedly are clear to hold training camp and play games at Chase Center.
San Francisco approved Golden State's plan to conduct practices and host games without spectators, the San Francisco Chronicle's Ron Kroichick reported Friday, citing a league source. The Warriors' daily testing protocols "for players and other employees" helped win approval from the city, the source told Kroichick.
The city's stay-at-home orders will take effect on Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. and last until Jan. 4, as San Francisco, Alameda County, the city of Berkeley, Contra Costa County, Santa Clara County and San Mateo County opted into the state of California's shelter-in-place orders for regions with fewer than 15 percent capacity in ICU beds. The Bay Area, as of this writing, has not yet reached the threshold, but San Francisco public health director Dr. Grant Colfax said the city is on pace to run out of ICU beds on Dec. 26.
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The Warriors will open the regular season with a four-game road trip, but they will host a preseason game on Dec. 15 and two regular-season games (Jan. 1 and Jan. 3) during the initial order.
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Last month, San Francisco officials rejected the Warriors' plan to have fans attend games this season, citing public health concerns. Since then, cases and hospitalizations across the state have spiked, leading Santa Clara County last week to prohibit contact sports at every level through at least Dec. 21 and the 49ers to subsequently relocate their practices and next two home games to Arizona.
The NBA completed its 2019-20 season, without the Warriors, in a bubble on the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex just outside of Orlando, Fla. The league announced its first-half schedule for all 30 teams Friday, with teams playing home games within their own markets and traveling to opponents'. Two days earlier, the United States set records for daily deaths, hospitalizations and infections since the coronavirus pandemic began.