Super Bowl parties, post-game celebrations risk COVID spike

Many of America’s COVID-19 spikes came on the heels of holidays, when friends and families gathered to celebrate. Could Super Bowl LV lead to another spike?

• Parties: 25% of Americans said they planned to attend Super Bowl parties with people from outside their households, per a Seton Hall Sports Poll.
• Celebrations: Thousands of fans celebrated throughout the night in the streets of Tampa, many of them without masks.

Rewind: The 49ers’ loss to the Chiefs in last year’s Super Bowl may have prevented the spread of the virus, per WSJ (subscription).

• Celebrations would have been held if they’d won, and COVID-19 was already spreading in the Bay Area at the time. It didn’t reach Kansas City until March.