Yahoo Finance Going to see Garth Brooks at Arrowhead? Here’s what to know about your COVID safety
Update: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday updated its face mask guidance for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Read that story here.
With less than two weeks left before the Garth Brooks concert at Arrowhead Stadium, COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Arrowhead stadium is expected to receive more than 58,000 people for the sold-out concert on Aug. 7.
Working with city officials, the Chiefs are making plans to have a COVID-19 vaccination site at Arrowhead Stadium when country music star performs. Meanwhile, guidance on masks has been shifting as the delta variant surges across southwest Missouri and across the U.S.
Here’s what guests should take into account, from Arrowhead’s safety policies to the latest health guidance, to stay safe from the virus.
Masks
Although the concert will be outdoors, recent advisories from local public health officials say even vaccinated individuals should wear masks in crowded outdoor settings, or places where they will be in close contact to people who might not be fully vaccinated.
Coronavirus guidance from Arrowhead does not require masks for fully vaccinated guests. But it recommends them for unvaccinated individuals, their website states. Staff members who are not vaccinated will be wearing a mask in the event.
The CDC is also expected to revise mask guidelines for vaccinated people Tuesday, according to The New York Times.
Due to rising breakthrough infections, the agency will recommend that vaccinated individuals should resume wearing masks indoors in some areas of the country, The Times reported.
Vaccines
Kansas City leaders continue to encourage residents over age 12 to get fully vaccinated to protect themselves and the community from COVID-19.
They are also recommending people to exercise caution, especially those with underlying medical conditions and people who are not eligible to get their shots yet.
“While masks are not currently mandatory in Kansas City,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement Friday, “we continue to encourage Kansas Citians to wear masks in large indoor settings, or if you are in close proximity to an unvaccinated person. Kansas City, please — please — take the vaccine if you have not yet.”
The Chiefs are making plans with city officials to have a COVID-19 vaccination site at Arrowhead Stadium the day of the concert. The site previously served as a vaccination location in the spring.
“We’re going to continue to take every single opportunity we can to create vaccination opportunities,” Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said Monday during a press conference in St. Joseph at the onset of training camp.
Generally, the vaccines become effective weeks after the first dose, so they do not provide instant protection.
Because it could take a few weeks for your body to build up immunity to the virus, it is possible to get infected right before or after getting the shot, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Arrowhead Stadium precautions
Besides the mask recommendations, Arrowhead stadium has other measures to promote the safety of their guests.
High-touch areas are being sanitized before, during and after events with hospital grade disinfectants, the Arrowhead website says.
Hand sanitizer will be available in various points of the stadium for guests and staff members. For those who want to grab a bite at events, limited concessions are available with the option of contactless experiences such as self-checkout and order pickup.
To avoid direct contact, all concessions, retail points of sale and parking tollbooths are cashless.
The Star’s Sam McDowell contributed to this report.
