Southeast Missouri was one of the first US hotspots for the Covid-19 Delta Variant in July and it continues to surge statewide and regionally now. Kansas City numbers have grown dramatically over the last two weeks as many locals take weekend trips and vacations to Branson and the Ozarks. I-49 (Route US 71) has become a virus corridor, transporting Delta from the SE to the NE.
Of course that makes it the perfect time to hold a superspreader event. Garth Brooks played Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Saturday night to a sold out crowd of over 74,500 and several hundred employed ushers, security, merchandisers, and food and beverage concession workers.
Chicago was the focus of a potential superspreader event last week as Lollapalooza was held over four days. While there was much deserved scrutiny and some well placed criticism, that event was model of safety compared to KC. Attendees in Chicago were required to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid test each day for entry. Masks were required of the unvaccinated. KC required no vaccine proof and only those in enclosed clubs were requested to be masked. Illinois and Chicago have much higher rates of vaccinated citizens than Missouri and the surrounding rural states. And let’s face it, the demographic / cultural leanings of attendees is worse for KC in comparison. The younger fans in a blue state seeing performers like Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion and Foo Fighters are much more likely to be vaccinated than red state Garth Brooks fans.
Both shows were allowed in part by comparing the seemly low level of spread connected to attendance at MLB games. The differences should obvious. In KC, the Royals on average draw about 18,000 nightly after capacity limits were revoked in May. Only 2 games have drawn just over 30,000, in a stadium that seats approximately 38,000. Anywhere between 25% to 75% of the seats are empty on any given night and fans do spread out. At Arrowhead, every seat was filled for the show staged in the round and seats even filled the playing field. No offense to the Royals, but local baseball crowds are not inspired to sing and yell for 3 hours. Garth’s fans sang, whooped and hollered to songs for nearly 4 hours. Most importantly, people can pretty much converse normally at a baseball game. As every concert goer knows, to communicate at a loud show, you need to get right next to a person and yell directly at their face. This is a recipe for disaster.
How was this allow to happen? Well, the GOP governor is a complete lost cause. Governor Parson never issued a statewide mask mandate and has only focused on reopening the economy through such actions as cutting off enhanced federal unemployment benefits. He only weighs on the pandemic to blame hospital systems for fear mongering and negative press during the current surge. He has even delayed acting on emergency requests from Springfield. KC Mayor Lucas just last week ordered a new indoor mask mandate, but that didn’t impact the outdoor spectators at Arrowhead. Jackson County just issued a similar order a few days ago. Neither the city nor county was interested in trying to force a cancellation at the last minute. Besides, they are battling the pro-virus Attorney General of Missouri who is suing St Louis and KC to overturn their new mask requirements. So, forget a government solution. Garth was asked about postponing, and in his aw shucks Oklahoma style (paraphrasing here) said he and his band were vaxxed and being safe and hoped concert goers would also be safe, well, if they felt like it. Just respect each others choices. If you wear a mask, no one will make fun of you. If people choose not to wear a mask, respect that too. That and “Are we doing the right thing? I’m trying to figure it out as we go.”
Yeah, I’m sure that will all work out fine.
So now to my question. What to do now. The seeds are sown.
Buried in an article published by the Kansas City Star, there was a paragraph that contained news I had not heard on any local television station (all doing stories about how excited people were for this show and getting back to normal). Apparently the state of Kansas Health Department has very specific rules about quarantines after traveling. In addition to quarantine directions after visiting hotspots like Cuba, Gibraltar, Tunisia, or Colombia was this additional hotspot identification and order for those that are not vaccinated:
“Attendance at any out-of-state mass gatherings of 500 or more where individuals do not socially distance (6 feet) and wear a mask.
The travel quarantine period is seven days with a negative test result or 10 days without testing, with release from quarantine on Day 8 and Day 11, respectively. Further information on quarantine periods can be found on KDHE’s website.”
As a geographic note to a national audience that might be unfamiliar, while the city of Kansas City that everyone knows from the Chiefs, Royals, the Plaza, and museums like the WWI monument, Nelson Atkins and Negro League baseball are all in Missouri, the entire metro area and suburbs straddle the Missouri / Kansas state line. Johnson and Wyandotte County Kansas are major population centers of the metro. It’s likely 40% of the attendees of this Missouri concert crossed the state line from the Kansas side. Many more might live in Missouri, but work in Kansas.
I emailed this information to all 4 local news stations on Saturday with the reminder they have a duty to inform the public about the rules and requirements. After all, all 4 stations had reporters at the stadium to discuss the mobile vaccine distribution in the parking lot and other must know details about attending in the pervious days. This detail is kinda important. I can’t know if my specific email was at all effective, but the evening broadcast results were:
Fox 4, nothing.
KCTV 5 , nothing (the reporter actually said since Garth is reevaluating his tour after the next show in Lincoln NE and the remaining tour might be cancelled. We were LUCKY to have this event tonight as it might be one of the last.)
KSHB 41, the onsite reporter at least mentioned the Kansas quarantine directive at the end of his report.
KMBC 9, three in studio readings and onscreen bullet points of the exact details of the quarantine and testing.
So this quarantine directive is very important information that should have been widely known, I don’t know, maybe last week! I’d be interested how many unvaxxed Kansas workers got approval from the boss to work from home next week or schedule a week of PTO in advance. OK, that number is probably zero. But the number that needs to quarantine is not, and it needs to happen.
How do we tell businesses and employers that they need to have employee meetings now to find out who went to the show and if they can’t show proof of vaccination, that they are sent home for the next 7 to 10 days, monitor for symptoms, and test. They need to follow this directive to protect their employees and customers. I’ve emailed a regional grocery chain to ask this question. I’m writing to two local school boards today, one of which has students coming into class this week. Any other ideas? Who do we contact? How do we get the word out to all high and low places? (Sorry about that.)
We can’t just sit back and let the seeds of the virus spread, especially when there is a directive in place that just needs to be communicated and enforced now to slow the new coming case spread that most certainly was originated at the Garth superspreader show on Saturday.