Coronavirus Detection Dogs in the 305 at Miami Heat American Airlines Arena — Is it Safe Going to a Game?

On January 28, 2021, almost 11 months after the NBA suspended play for the 2019–20 NBA Season, the Miami Heat opened up their Arena for a limited number of their Season Ticket Holder fans (less than 2K).

Of course during this Global Covid Pandemic where only a fraction of our population has received their two vaccine does — when it comes to attending a sporting event it was time for my family members to weigh in. I should have just kept my mouth shut, announced I was going down to the gym for a late night workout and come home after the game. But at the risk of creating a Ferris Bueller 2.0 situation, I was forced into hearing comments such as “alarmed”, “putting family members at risk”, “being disrespectful”, “selfish” — language I could not previously recollect hearing during the Holidays.

So I invited a friend that got Covid a few months ago and figured he would be safe and and we headed off to the Miami Heat Arena for a 8pm tipoff. I wore a N95 mask along with another mask over it. As we arrived at the front of the arena, a Season Ticket Holder told us that the front entrance was closed and we had to go to the side entrance Gate 5 of the arena. As we approached the entrance, there were a number of Arena Ushers that guided us, all masked up and very polite. Like the Airport, we answered a series of protocol questions.

And then we were told to stand in a single socially distanced line, put our phones in our pockets and put our right hand on our side. That’s when an officer masked up with his military fatigues walked inches past us with his cornavirus sniffing dog. He walked past me twice and during the second time, the dog did a 360 degree turn. That’s about the time I realized that because of the uncharacteristic South Florida cold front, I was wearing the sweatshirt that I had previously used when walking my daughters dog. I am certain the dog smelled the scent of dog and then decided to move along. Fortunately the dog did not sit down otherwise I would have been removed from the line and my friend and I would have been headed back home. The Usher then announced we could enter the arena and that’s when I saw in the distance some familiar masked up faces of the Miami Heat Season Ticket Holder Staff yelling out to greet us. I am am surprised they recognized me with my mask.

Here’s a video from a journalist reporting on the process.

Wow, it felt great to be back in the arena or at least doing something else besides quarantining at home flipping through TV channels. But the arena had a different feel to it, no food or beverages at all inside the arena. The only beverages were non-alcoholic served in outside in the East Plaza. The rules were strict, if you are caught without a mask you will be ejected from the Arena (unlike the last elevator I was in or during my last trip the grocery store). The Miami Heat and NBA fans at the arena appeared to have no issues following the rules as I did not see one person without a mask the entire night with the exception of the players on the court.

I did not have my regular season seats but the arena felt almost empty and the nearest fans almost 10 feet or more away from our seats. My only objection, I saw three groups of fans in my Season Ticket Holder Section and wished I could have sat only those seats. But with the limited crowd, our Row 14 seats were just fine.

Unfortunately, the Miami Heat after getting off to a 33–19 first quarter lead ended up losing to the Los Angeles Clippers 105–109, but that’s another story. It was great seeing the return of live NBA Basketball for the 2020–21 Season. I felt totally safe even with the global pandemic attending this sporting event thanks to the Miami Heat Organization, Arena Staff and the NBA. I don’t believe I need to defend myself among family members for going to game. And I do have hope in the post-pandemic era that our lives will move on and I am certain we will see more of these coronavirus sniffing dogs at Miami International Airport or other future events. #maskupmiami #safesafe #goheat