| USA TODAY
Fans celebrate the Super Bowl outside the Tampa stadium
Although this year’s Super Bowl has limited areas for unauthorized use as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, fans still showed up to celebrate outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. (February 7)
AP
Public health officials and experts warned that attending major events around the Super Bowl could lead to similar spikes in COVID-19 cases, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
However, several celebrities – including artists and participants in a football game – were shown in photos and videos over the weekend in Tampa, Florida, contrary to safety guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local officials of health and event organizers.
Day, 50 cents, Migos, Steve Aoki and Tory Lanez all held during the Big Game Weekend event co-sponsored by Barstool Sports and Miami’s E11EVEN nightclub at Tampa’s WTR Pool & Grill between Thursday and Saturday. Each performed without masks and in front of an almost entirely masked crowd in the open air, according to the videos captured by the participants.
USA TODAY contacted the Tampa Police, WTR Pool & Grill and E11EVEN and representatives of the stars for comment.
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“This is not how we should celebrate the Super Bowl,” St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman tweeted on Saturday, condemning the photos of the 50 Cent show. “It is not safe or smart. It’s stupid. Let’s take a closer look at this, and it could end up costing someone a lot more than 50 cents. “
Diplo shared a series of photos on Instagram on Saturday, one of which appears to indicate that he received two doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Others show a sign that says “MASKS ARE MANDATORY” and the DJ wearing a mask designed to look like his face. He used the mask to take pictures before the event, but removed it for the performance.
The CDC says that those who received both doses should continue to wear masks and social distance: “There is not enough information available to say whether or when the CDC will stop recommending people to wear masks and avoid close contact with others. to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. “
Lanez and several alumni from the “Bachelor” franchise would play a celebrity flag football game on Sunday, also without a mask, with only a few participants on the sides wearing masks, by video shared by Celebrity Sweat, the official event organizer .
Former “Bachelor” Peter Weber, and former “Bachelorette” contestants Jason Tartick and Blake Horstmann, as well as several former NFL and WWE athletes, were among the participants in the game. USA TODAY contacted Celebrity Sweat, Tartick and Horstmann. It was not immediately clear whether Weber had a representative.
According to the Celebrity Sweat website, this year’s event was closed to the public and facial masks were required. The Tampa Bay Times reports that more than 100 spectators watched behind the barricades of the football game, “almost all without a mask”.
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NFL safety precautions for the Super Bowl include limiting attendance to 25,000 guests, nearly a third of whom will be vaccinated health workers from Florida. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor imposed a mask mandate for entertainment areas and set a $ 500 fine for violators. But enforcement has been problematic in a state where Governor Ron DeSantis has banned localities from collecting fines for masks.
“I’m excited about what I see the NFL doing in the game itself, ” said Jill Roberts, assistant professor at the University of South Florida at the College of Public Health.“ I think that inside the stadium and the game itself, the risk is very low .
“My concern is with the flow of people going to bars and restaurants, passing through areas close to the stadium and all that. The Super Bowl parties are going to be as much of a problem as the Thanksgiving and Christmas meetings, and we know for sure that those meetings have influenced the increase in cases that we are seeing now. “
As of Sunday, the US is close to 27 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 463,300 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
Contributing: Josh Peter