ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic will limit attendance at home games during the 2020-21 National Basketball Association season to a physically distanced 4,000 fans or so — about a quarter of capacity — and will require face coverings for all fans and coronavirus testing for spectators who sit within 30 feet of the court.

The team announced those measures, among others — including a strict bags policy — on Monday as part of steps it says it’s taking with the NBA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local health officials to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus while playing games in front of fans.

“Our intention is to adjust as needed as the season goes on and as the pandemic brings us any new news,” Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said late Monday in a Zoom call with reporters. “We will adjust as we go along. There are no guarantees here as we go into this process, but our focus is that we are going to be diligent about the health and safety of welcoming our fans back into the Amway Center.”

The announcement comes as the Magic continue the preseason and prepare to open the regular season at the Amway Center on December 23 against the Miami Heat. Martins said the team will limit attendance in the first five home games even further, to about 2,000 fans, “to ensure that we are doing it safety and seamlessly.” The first home preseason game is Thursday against Charlotte.

The Magic say they will give season-ticket holders first priority based on tenure, followed by fans who have made a season-ticket deposit. Single-game tickets go on sale Wednesday.

Officials referred to the team’s two upcoming preseason home games as an “evaluation phase” open only to family and friends of the Magic organization.

As part of their safety measures, the Magic said they would allow only medical bags and “parent bags,” upon X-ray, into the arena.

The team will seat spectators in pods of two, four, or six people, depending on the size of their group, Martins said, and will ensure six feet of distance among all groups.

He said the Magic will delineate separate zones for fans, team personnel, and media so that people in those zones don’t cross into each other or into each other’s spaces.

As for fans who sit within 30 feet of the court, Martins said they will be mailed a kit to take a COVID-19 test at home while connected to, for verification purposes, a telehealth professional. They then must drop off their sealed test unit at a UPS location, he said, adding that the team would provide a courier service on weekends.

The team says it will offer rapid PCR testing at the arena for those who don’t take the test at home, but Martins emphasized that those fans would have to wait outside for results for up to 30 minutes.

“Anybody sitting at those seats has to have a negative test,” Martins said.

A tarp will cover the 15 feet of seating area between those fans and the players, Martins said.

Other measures include, according to officials:

• A “pre-arrival” symptom-and-exposure survey for fans;
• Personnel to monitor and enforce mask use;
• Safety signage and distance markers throughout the arena;
• The addition of 400 hand-sanitizer stations; and
• Constant cleaning with disinfectant in high-traffic areas, “including on point-of-purchase devices, door handles, elevator buttons, escalator handrails, and restrooms.”

Officials also trumpeted Amway Center health and sanitation upgrades including improved air filters, a “cashless environment,” PlexiGuard barriers in key locations, and UV lighting “for the inactivation of bacterial organisms.”

The Magic and other NBA teams are embarking on their second season during the pandemic. After the pandemic postponed play last season in March, teams returned during the summer and played in a so-called bubble, without fans, through the playoffs at Walt Disney World Resort.

Asked Monday why the Magic would even allow fans back into their home arena during the pandemic, Martins said “just over 50%” of fans the team surveyed “said they wanted to return under safe conditions.”

“Our focus then turned to how we could do it safely,” he said.

The Magic’s announcement follows an updated protocol guide that the NBA reportedly distributed to teams within about the last two weeks.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in late November that the Atlanta Hawks would open their home arena to only friends and family for the first few home games of the regular season. Then it would open the arena to about 10% capacity, the newspaper reported.