Health Experts To Determine If Super Bowl Was Superspreader Event

TAMPA, FL — The Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County has issued a national call requesting information on coronavirus cases associated with Super Bowl LV in Tampa.

Health departments in other counties and states are asked to use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's epidemiology disease sharing network, Epi-X, to record cases of people who contracted coronavirus after attending Super Bowl activities in Tampa.

The DOH-Hillsborough will document all cases of Florida residents or visitors who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus after attending Super Bowl LV or any official Super Bowl events in Tampa.

The Super Bowl game itself and events sponsored by the National Football League or Super Bowl IV Host Committee, such as the NFL Super Bowl IV Experience, mandated strict adherence to coronavirus protocols. Volunteer ambassadors circulated to make sure all attending were wearing masks and social distancing.

At the game itself, attendance was capped at 22,000 at the stadium, which has a capacity of 65,890. Masks were mandated, and cardboard cutouts featuring pictures of fans who weren't able to attend the game were placed in seats between live spectators to ensure social distancing.

Despite a widespread public service campaign urging football fans to wear masks and practice social distancing, photos and videos of Super Bowl celebration parties in Tampa showed hundreds of maskless fans gathered in the streets.

Other videos showed private parties with celebrity guests where coronavirus protocols were ignored.

That's just what health experts feared when they warned that the Super Bowl had the potential to become a "superspreader" event.

Prior to the game, Dr. Lewis Nelson, chairman of emergency medicine at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, warned the public not to attend large Super Bowl parties or events.

"A Super Bowl party creates a situation that carries many of the high-risk characteristics for disease transmission, which is why I recommend people have virtual watch parties with only immediate family or close contacts instead," Nelson said.

"Gathering in a closed space, coming in close contact with other people with insufficient or no face coverings and potentially chanting or yelling can lead to the virus's spread," Nelson said. "Loud vocalizations created when raising your voice can produce abundant aerosolized particles that raise the risk of interpersonal transmission. The more people that gather, the greater the risk that one of them can transmit coronavirus."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, echoed Nelson's warnings.

He urged football fans to stay home and celebrate with family or a small number of friends.

“As difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it,” Fauci said.

Kevin Watler, spokesman for the DOH-Hillsborough, said it could be a month before health officials know what impact the Super Bowl and related festivities will have on the coronavirus positivity rates. That's how long it will take for people who took part in Super Bowl activities to start testing positive and for the counties and states to file reports in the Epi-X system.

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