Super Bowl Is Super Safe According To Some Officials; Others Worry About A “Super-Spreader Bowl”
12.02.2022 - 03:15
/ deadline.com
Every fan attending Sunday’s Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium will be given a KN95 mask and, according to L.A. County Public Health and SoFi Stadium officials, they’re expected to wear it. But will they? That remains to be seen.
In a meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week Janice Hahn, whose district lies adjacent to Inglewood, worried about the recent masklessness at stadiums vis à vis the Super Bowl.
“I hope it’s not a Super-Spreader Bowl,” she said, “because that would impact all the sacrifices that people have made.”
Two weeks ago, the vast majority of fans attending the NFC championship game at SoFi between the Rams and San Francisco 49ers were seen on camera ignoring the mandate. In fact, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took heat for being photographed without masks, even as they promoted them publicly.
Ditto recent Lakers games at Crypto.com Arena, where masklessness now looks to be the norm. It is up to venues to enforce the rule under threat of eventual fines.
Still, there has been no rise in cases or the infection rate since the NFC Championship at SoFi. In fact, they continue to drop.
But the Super Bowl will surely have more people sitting together for longer and a vastly larger associated workforce. What’s more, it’s not just the game and the halftime show that will attract crowds. There are dozens of game-adjacent marketing events and parties in the days before kickoff. There’s also the Taste of the NFL culinary gathering at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the NFL Honors awards show and the Night of Pride (both of which took place last night at SoFi) as well as the three-night Super Bowl Music Fest which is packing Crypto.com Arena. And that’s not to mention smaller local