Coronavirus US: Fears Super Bowl could become super spreading event
Authorities and health experts have warned America’s COVID-19 crisis could be “twice as bad” as when it peaked after this weekend.
A year ago, before the global pandemic hit, America’s Super Bowl was one of the country’s biggest social occasions — bringing football enthusiasts and non fans alike together for hours of festivities.
More than 26 million coronavirus cases and close to half a million deaths later and tomorrow’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be a completely different story — at least if health officials get their way.
As the US rounds the corner of a “dark and deadly winter”, experts have warned of the tremendous risk posed by Super Bowl Sunday (Monday in Australia) and the widespread gatherings potentially held in its honour, urging Americans not to turn it into a super spreader event.
“Don’t fumble this. We’re almost there,” California’s health and human services secretary, Dr Mark Ghaly, has said.
“Let’s keep our guard up a little bit longer.”
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With more transmissible “mutant” variants of COVID-19 circulating, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, was blunt when asked on Good Morning America last week if people should hold parties to celebrate the game.
“Well, absolutely not,” he responded.
“I mean, watch the Super Bowl on TV, enjoy it. Have a party in your house with your family with the people who are there.
“But you don’t want parties with people that you haven’t had much contact with, you just don’t know if they’re infected. So as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it.”
Other officials have pointed to holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving — when many Americans defied health advice, causing a surge in infections and deaths — and major sporting events at the end of last year as a grim reminder of what could happen if their pleas fall on deaf ears.
Celebrations for the aforementioned events marked the “beginning of a surge that led to a lot of death in California — a really hard and dark period,” Dr Ghaly, said during a briefing last week.
“We now have the opportunity to keep our guard up and prevent the beginning of another story of increased cases. We want to make sure that the Super Bowl does not become that next big spread event.”
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The warning against Super Bowl festivities is as much about avoiding past mistakes as it is staving off future “peril”.
The UK COVID-19 strain, for example, has seen considerable growth in a number of counties around America, Far more contagious and potentially also deadlier, the variant represents nearly one quarter of known virus cases nationwide.
Michael Osterholm, who worked on President Joe Biden’s transition team, last weekend warned of a “hurricane” if vaccination isn’t ramped up before the UK, South Africa and Brazil variants take hold in the US.
“We are going to see something that we have not seen yet in this country,” Dr Osterholm said on NBC’s Meet The Press.
“England, for example, is hospitalising twice as many people as we ever had hospitalised at our highest number. You and I are sitting on this beach where it’s 70 degrees (21C), perfectly blue skies, gentle breeze. But I see that hurricane 5, category 5 or higher, 450 miles (724km) offshore.
“And, you know, telling people to evacuate on that nice blue sky day is going to be hard.
“We’re really good in this country at pumping the brakes after we wrap the car around the tree.”
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If residents again reject public health guidance — such as mask wearing and avoiding gatherings — like they did in late 2020, government officials have warned that in some areas, even with a decent vaccination strategy, daily cases could be twice as bad as they were at the peak of America’s surge in autumn and winter.
“If we let down our guard and end up having large numbers of people in our home, inside, not masked, yelling for our teams, then we can see a potential reversal of the downward trend and end up with a new surge,” UCLA epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert, Dr Robert Kim-Farley, told the Los Angeles Times.
In a statement to ABC News, director of Los Angeles County’s public health department, Dr Barbara Ferrer, said any celebration could have “serious consequences”.
“Super Bowl parties have the power to derail our recovery and given the likelihood that there are more infectious variants circulating in our community, let’s not take chances with our own health and the health of others by creating easy opportunities for the virus to spread,” Dr Ferrer said.
“The serious consequences of gathering indoors with people outside of your household to watch the Super Bowl is just not worth it.”
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