Advertisement
Canada markets close in 3 hours 56 minutes
  • S&P/TSX

    22,189.29
    +82.21 (+0.37%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,253.64
    +5.15 (+0.10%)
     
  • DOW

    39,783.86
    +23.78 (+0.06%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7388
    +0.0015 (+0.21%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.68
    +1.33 (+1.63%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    96,492.98
    +3,019.88 (+3.23%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,234.90
    +22.20 (+1.00%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,133.14
    +18.79 (+0.89%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.1870
    -0.0090 (-0.21%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    16,399.62
    +0.10 (+0.00%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    12.86
    +0.08 (+0.63%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,964.59
    +32.61 (+0.41%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6839
    +0.0034 (+0.50%)
     

Are you at risk at a Kansas City Chiefs game or outdoor show? COVID experts weigh in

Come Sunday, thousands of Kansas City Chiefs fans known throughout the NFL for their roar will cram into Arrowhead Stadium and let the spittle fly against the Los Angeles Chargers. But could they be spreading around something other than spirit?

The return of large outdoor gatherings, which now include full-capacity Chiefs games as well as concerts, is testing what medical experts have said for months — that outdoor gatherings are less risky than indoor gatherings when it comes to catching COVID-19.

So far that appears to be true in Kansas City, with no reported outdoor superspreader events.

“Most events outside go pretty well,” Dr. Steve Stites, the University of Kansas Health System’s chief medical officer, said after he and more than 73,000 other fans packed Arrowhead for the Chiefs’ season opener.

ADVERTISEMENT

“You know Royals games have not produced a big COVID outbreak. Sporting (KC), same thing, no big outbreak. And you know people are kinda close together and screaming at a Sporting game.”

Yet medical experts stop short of calling outdoor gatherings, especially large ones that might include the unvaccinated, risk-free.

“It is true that indoor gatherings are higher risk than outdoor gatherings,” said Janell Friesen, public information officer for the Unified Government Public Health Department, which watches over concerts at Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs. “That said, we still urge caution for anyone gathering outdoors, especially for people who are not fully vaccinated.”

Fans went berserk at the Chiefs home opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 12. Young, healthy and vaccinated fans are likely to be at low risk of catching COVID-19 at such an event, medical experts say.
Fans went berserk at the Chiefs home opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 12. Young, healthy and vaccinated fans are likely to be at low risk of catching COVID-19 at such an event, medical experts say.

Rich Baker got a bit of hate mail when Starlight Theatre began hosting performances again in June after the pandemic shut down the 2020 season.

“I can’t believe you’re running superspreader events,” a few folks complained to Baker, president and CEO of the outdoor venue in Swope Park.

But none of the events at the theater, which seats about 8,000, have led to any known outbreaks during this shortened season which ends soon, said Baker, “and the good news is I really do think people feel safer outdoors.”

Starlight followed safety guidance from local and national health officials in recommending but not requiring masks for patrons, though masks must be worn in indoor public spaces including restrooms.

“And we’ve been watching what everybody else does, the Chiefs and the Royals, Azura Amphitheater and Sporting KC,” Baker said. “They’re all doing the same thing. They’re saying masks are recommended but not required.

“We haven’t heard anything from either patrons or the health department that there’s been any kind of mass outbreak because of our events. So I think what it is proving is the guidance really is working.”

There also have been no COVID outbreaks tied to any event at Azura, said Friesen.

Last month, Arrowhead hosted what some thought surely would become a superspreader when country music star Garth Brooks drew more than 70,000 fans at a time when less than half of Kansas and Missouri residents had been vaccinated. But no reported outbreaks came of it.

Medical experts say any large gathering poses risk for viral spread, especially if attendees are not vaccinated, not wearing masks and not social distancing. Stites has expressed concern about what could happen when University of Kansas basketball fans are allowed in full force again inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.

Masks or face coverings will be required for anyone attending Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 1, the school’s popular and unofficial start of the season. Run-DMC will perform this year.

Inside or out, “you’re not going to be in a zero-risk environment when it comes to COVID anymore,” said epidemiologist Ryan Demmer, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

“And being in large groups is one of the factors that increases your risk the most, just because the more people there are, the more likely it is that one of them could potentially be infected and not know it.”

There’s one group of fans and concert-goers who shouldn’t have a reason to be “terribly concerned” about being in a large crowd, Demmer said. That would be young, healthy, vaccinated adults. Others who are more at risk should think twice.

Demmer said he is “broadly supportive of moving back towards normal.”

“I understand that we can’t keep stadiums shut down, locked down, for the indefinite future. So I’m not necessarily against people starting to get back to going to football stadiums,” he said.

“But I think it’s worth articulating clearly what the risks are and are not and what you can do to minimize your risks so people can make informed decisions on their own.”

Those are risks that Brooks is acknowledging after drawing all those fans to Arrowhead, where they were given the chance to get vaccinated, though only 35 people did.

Eleven days after the sold-out gig, which set a new record for an Arrowhead concert with more than 74,500 tickets sold, Brooks canceled five shows on his stadium tour because of rising COVID-19 cases.

This week, he announced that “stadiums are officially out for this year.”

Instead, he’s planning performances at “dive bars” because “dive bars are vaccinated.” The plan is to require fans to provide proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the show.

In August, crowds gathered outside Arrowhead Stadium before country music superstar Garth Brooks’ sold-out concert. Contrary to what some people feared, the event did not become a COVID-19 superspreader event.
In August, crowds gathered outside Arrowhead Stadium before country music superstar Garth Brooks’ sold-out concert. Contrary to what some people feared, the event did not become a COVID-19 superspreader event.

All about the air flow

The Chiefs only require fans to wear masks in certain indoor spaces at the stadium. COVID rules are inconsistent from team to team because stadiums are following local mandates, which vary.

Even so, Stites, who is fully vaccinated, said he wore his mask outdoors at the Sept. 12 Chiefs game against the Cleveland Browns and while walking through the dense crowds on the concourse. He took it off when he started sweating on a day when temperatures flirted with 90 degrees, but felt safe with a breeze blowing.

Why are outdoor spaces safer? “If you’re outdoors, generally you have more air flow and turnover, wind currents, viral particles can disseminate further and just be swept away,” Demmer said.

“Indoors, if you have really good ventilation where there’s air flow that takes the air, drops it down and then out to a cold air return, for example, it can be pretty safe, too. It’s just that there are other indoor situations where the air circulation is incredibly poor and there’s basically no air turnover.

“So if you have an infected person in the room with you, the air is just kind of hanging there and slowly spreading and dramatically increasing the chances that you’re going to inhale air particles.”

Baker said Starlight uses fans to cool patrons on hot days, which “helps because it kind of blows everything down.”

When the theater reopened with a production of the musical “Godspell,” the Actors Equity union initially wanted the audience to be masked, “primarily because Broadway decided to do that.” But Starlight balked at the request.

“The good news is, they did listen to us. We said look, we get why in an indoor theater that would be a requirement and we understand completely,” Baker said.

“But this is outdoors. Your performers are at least 15 feet away from the nearest patron, so they’re not in range where they could get anything.”

Starlight Theatre drew a large crowd for the Doobie Brothers last week. Officials with the outdoor venue in Swope Park say they have had no reports of COVID-19 outbreaks associated with any of their events during this shortened season.
Starlight Theatre drew a large crowd for the Doobie Brothers last week. Officials with the outdoor venue in Swope Park say they have had no reports of COVID-19 outbreaks associated with any of their events during this shortened season.

Assessing the risk

There’s a way to find out the level of COVID risk associated with an event. The COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool was created by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory, and Stanford University.

The online, interactive dashboard shows the chance of coming into contact with at least one person infected with COVID-19 at an event any place in the United States.

You can choose the potential size of the event up to 5,000 people.

Spoiler alert: so much delta variant is still infecting the United States that at any event with 5,000 people anywhere, except for in a handful of counties, there’s a a 100% chance of you coming in contact with someone who has COVID-19.

The tool demonstrates how “if you gather with a group of — certainly tens of thousands of people in a stadium — given the current infection rates in the country, it’s basically guaranteed that somebody there, probably multiple people, will be infected,” said Demmer.

“So the next question is are you going to be the one that’s standing in line with them at the concessions or for the restroom or to get in the gates or sitting next to them for three hours during the game?

“So large events increase your risk just because you have many more contacts with people, and that’s how the virus spreads, person to person contact.”

Starlight’s mask decision

In surveys, the No. 1 Starlight patron complaint about having to mask up was how hot they’d feel in the summer.

Half of the people said they wouldn’t come back if masks were mandatory.

The other half said they would stay away if masks were not required, said Baker, who is fully vaccinated.

He believes wearing a mask should be a personal choice for his patrons, “especially outdoors because it really is hard to get (COVID) outdoors,” he said.

“If you’re really worried about your health and you’re wearing a mask, you really don’t have to worry much, especially if you’ve been vaccinated.”

A large portion of Starlight’s audiences are likely vaccinated, “probably less concert-goers than Broadway folks because the Broadway crowd tends to run a little older, especially the fold down front,” said Baker, who got COVID at the beginning of the pandemic last year while vacationing in Spain.

“So we’re going to get through this season with the policies we have now. And then we’ll see, before next season, when we open in the spring.

“If all of a sudden (COVID) is rampant out there, we may seriously consider that as well. But given the knowledge we have right now and the fact that numbers seem to be going down again, and we really haven’t had any major outbreaks, we feel comfortable that we’re keeping people safe.”

Starlight wraps up its season with Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape to Margaritaville” musical comedy this week and a Pitbull and Iggy Azalea concert on Oct. 6. Crowds have been a little slow coming back, with attendance down about 20% this season, Baker said, and tickets for both shows are still available.

Safety in a crowd

Mask mandates and limiting crowd sizes would certainly make large events safer, said Demmer, who has heard that some venues “are restricting people’s ability to sort of get there early and roam through the corridors. So basically, go to your seat and stay in your seat.

Demmer said requiring fans to be vaccinated to get into sporting events — the Las Vegas Raiders and Seattle Seahawks are two of the few teams in the NFL that do — “would dramatically increase the safety of going to an event.”

Aside from that, Demmer has suggested that once fans get to their seat in a crowded stadium they stay there as much as possible to minimize the chance that they’ll come in contact with an infected person. That means trying to avoid those long lines at the concession stands and restrooms, likely easier said than done.

“The virus spreads because you’re in close contact with people and breathing their air, so anything you can do to reduce the number of people that you come into reasonably close contact with, the better off you’ll be,” he said.

“In a stadium, this really isn’t a virus that’s going to somehow travel from one side of the stadium to the other side and infect you, or get caught up in the ventilation system and then blow out the ventilation system where you’re sitting. There’s not a lot of evidence for that.

“So it’s who you are around, within 10 to 15 feet for the most part. It’s all about personal contacts. How many people are you coming into close contact with.”

Before football fans get to the stadium, Demmer said, they might consider taking an at-home COVID test, which delivers results in about 15 minutes.

Again, that might be easier said than done considering the trouble people are having finding home testing kits at local pharmacies.

“They’re not perfect, but they will catch some infection and if you’re infected at least you could stay home and not bring that infection into the stadium,” said Demmer.

“And similarly, you could test on the backside. Say five days after attending an event like that, it’s not a terrible idea to try and get tested. And maybe even doing two tests, and if they come up positive, then, again, quarantine so you’re not spreading any infection you might have acquired at the game.”

If you have COVID-19 symptoms, don’t go to the stadium, said Demmer, who acknowledged that advice might be difficult for die-hard football fans to follow.

“I totally get it,” he said. “But the recommendation in this moment still kinda has to be, it’s silly to go in symptomatic. If you’re symptomatic, if you have mild symptoms, the sniffles, etc., I’m not too worried about that.

“If you have a fever or a persistent, newly developed cough, things like that, or loss of taste and smell, some of those are much more specific and likely to be COVID. And I would hope people would stay home if the symptoms are more severe like that.

“There are going to be symptomatic people at the stadium. Not much we can do about it. I just don’t want to be on the record saying it’s no big deal.”

People who have underlying health conditions and comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease and are immunocompromised, or are 65 or older should also give a second thought to attending a crowded large event, even if they are vaccinated, Demmer said.

“It might be worth sitting this one out until we get to a safer place,” he said. “But if in that situation, you decide to go, wearing an N95 mask for the event would create a lot of safety for yourself because they’re effective in preventing viral transmission.”