February 7th, local time, the 55th Annual NFL Finals, commonly known as the Super Bowl, will be held soon.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who reached the Super Bowl again after 18 years, will play against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, which also became the first team in the history of the game to play at home.
Super Bowl is one of the most watched TV programs in the United States, attracting more than 100 million viewers last year.
This year’s “Super Bowl” is also one of the largest outdoor activities held outdoors after the outbreak of the pandemic in the United States, and the prevention and control of the pandemic in the United States is facing a “big test”.
Fauci can’t sit still.
Call on the people not to have a big party.
CNN reported on February 5 that Warrensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called on the American people not to take the opportunity to hold parties, but to stay in their homes to watch the broadcast, and not let the “Super Bowl” turn into a virus super-spread event.
Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser of the United States president, warned the American people on the 3rd through the television media that in order to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus, fans should not gather to watch football and eat together against the background that the pandemic is still uncontrolled.
The audience has the least history.
Humanoid cardboard may fill the stand
The 55th Super Bowl will be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Raymond James Stadium has a capacity of 65,890 people.
The NFL said that due to the pandemic, only 24,700 fans, including 7,500 medical staff who have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus this year.
This will be the least live fans in Super Bowl history.
The remaining seats may be filled by the “Cardboard Man”.
Fans spend $100 on a person-shaped cardboard, and uploading photos can “sit in the stands and watch the game”.
The NFL said a portion of the revenue would go to local charities.
Watch offline games to avoid gathering
Restaurants in many places are open conditionally.
Although there is a limit on the number of audience, the enthusiasm of the fans has not diminished at all.
The NFL estimates that about 187 million people will watch games on TV this year.
In order to avoid fans contracting the novel coronavirus because of gathering to watch the game, restaurants in many parts of the United States have conditionally opened catering services.
Los Angeles: Restaurants close or remove all TV sets
After two months of closure of the restaurant industry, the Los Angeles County government allowed restaurants to resume outdoor dining services from January 29. According to the regulations, in addition to limiting passenger traffic to 50%, catering operators also face new restrictions, that is, “turning down or removing all TV sets and any screen that can be used to broadcast programs”.
Los Angeles County public health officials said it was to prevent fans from gathering. “Last fall, people gathered to watch the Lakers and Dodgers playoffs, which accelerated the spread of the virus in Southern California,” said Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director. “We can’t repeat the mistakes we made before.”
New York: Governor Rejects Restaurants’ Requests to Extend Hours
Since December 14 last year, restaurants in New York City have banned canteen meals, only allowing take-out and outdoor dining services, but the end of outdoor dining can only be until 22:00.
pandemic restrictions, coupled with low winter temperatures, have led to a decrease in outdoor diners, and many restaurants have closed down after living beyond their means.
The Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association, representing more than 3,000 restaurants and pubs in New York, recently wrote to Governor Andrew Cuomo calling for the The end of the restaurant meal was extended by two hours to 24:00, so that the restaurant could receive more customers, and guests did not need to be forced to leave the restaurant before watching the game at 22:00.
However, Cuomo did not agree to postpone the existing curfew to 24:00, saying, “With the Super Bowl weekend approaching, we can’t relax the pandemic restrictions.
We must continue to be vigilant and abide by the pandemic prevention requirements.”
Fauci said on the 3rd that there will be a wave of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the event of lively events or festivals.
As of February 5th, Eastern Time, there were more than 100,000 new confirmed cases in the United States for many consecutive days, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases has exceeded 26.8 million.
Can the pandemic prevention in the United States survive the “super bowl” this year?