In a sudden reversal, Iowa State’s football team will now play its season opener on Sept. 12 without a live audience after administrators scuttled plans to host 25,000 fans in the stands. The original plan, announced Monday, went against recommendations from local Story County health officials and came on the same day that Ames, home of Iowa State, was identified by TheNew York Times as the nation’s worst coronavirus hotspot. “I would call it irresponsible,” Story County Health Board chairman John Paschen told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. “We’re talking about are you on the side of Mr. Death or you against Mr. Death?” The board told the school in June that they couldn’t see any way the event could be safe if crowds attended, noting that the Iowa State Fair had canceled its annual mass gathering in Des Moines. The school said in a statement that its president changed course after hearing community feedback.
