February 7th, local time, the “Super Bowl”, the most watched sports event in the United States, ended in Tampa, Florida. Many fans took off their masks to celebrate the carnival. Such disregard for epidemic prevention regulations raises concerns: “Super Bowl” may become “super spread”.
Before the game, the municipal government and the organizers of the event issued a series of regulations, including limiting the number of people watching the game and issuing mask orders.
Government and public health experts in many parts of the United States also called on fans to “watch the game online as much as possible” and warned “don’t let the Super Bowl become a super-spreading event”.
However, many fans still ignore the epidemic prevention regulations. Thousands of fans without masks rushed to the streets of Tampa to celebrate the victory, according to the Washington Post on the 8th.
Live footage shows that local police tried to drive away the crowd of fans, but with little effect. “During a pandemic, as long as 25,000 people get together to shout, COVID-19 will find an opportunity to spread,” said Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington.
Tampa St. Petersburg nurse Elizabeth Haver posted a disgruntlement: “Sincerely ‘looking forward to going to take care of the coronavirus patients who celebrate stupid ‘Super Bowl’ next week’ Thank you, each of you, because it’s not difficult enough to be a nurse now.
This tweet has received tens of thousands of likes.
The number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States fell by 25% to about 825,000 last week, the largest decline in the weekly epidemic data in the United States since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
However, the Variant coronavirus that was the first reported in the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly in the United States, and even there has been obvious community transmission, which may reverse this progress.
According to the latest data, a total of 699 Variant coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 34 states in the United States, of which 690 are infected with the B.1.1.7 variant virus first discovered in the United Kingdom.
Researchers warned that without “decisive and immediate public health action”, the Variant virus “may have disastrous consequences for the death rate and morbidity of the novel coronavirus in the United States within a few months”.
Florida, the host place of the Super Bowl, is the “hardest hit area” of Variant strain infection.
Bloomberg took stock on the 9th that Florida has 201 cases of B117 virus infection, the highest in the United States.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National Tropical Medicine School of Baylor Medical School, said that Variant COVID-19 may bring a new peak of the epidemic in the United States.
“The U.S. is now in a vaccination race to combat the growing threat of Variant coronavirus.”
However, the results of the “race” between the vaccine and the Variant virus in the United States are unpredictable.
The U.S. government, which is obsessed with “herd immunity”, will find it difficult to achieve its goals before the end of this summer.
CBS expressed concern in an interview with President Biden on the 7th: Herd immunity requires 75% of the population to complete the vaccination, but at the current rate of vaccination, it will take a whole year – “But can we wait that long?” Biden said bluntly, “No, we can’t wait that long.”
