Nearly two months before a boxing match in Texas, we were dutifully informed that we should be outraged at 60,000 people packing into an indoor stadium:
Now, in a highly-controversial move, Canelo Promotions will attempt to squeeze 60,000 socially distanced attendees in what has already been described as a potential "super spreader" event.
The words of warning did not fall on deaf ears. No, Texas fight fans heard them loud and clear.
They just decided to ignore them and proceeded to shatter attendance records by packing in over 73,000 fans.
This brought on the obligatory tut-tutting:
A crowd that size is good news for the fight promoter, but some would argue it's less great in the fight against COVID-19.
"Until more people get vaccinated and COVID really goes down to a negligible level, continue to wear your mask, maintain your distance from others, avoid large gatherings," said [Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny] Taneja.
So, what happens when 73,000 people without masks fail to social distance indoors?
Pretty much the same thing had they shuttered themselves indoors to wallow in misery and loneliness (as recommended by the experts).
It has been just over two weeks since the fight took place – ample time, according to the CDC, for the virus to make itself known in terms of new cases.
Rather than increase, though, or even flatten, case rates in Texas have continued to decline, going from a 7-day moving average of 2,507 a day at the time of the fight to just 1,810 as of this writing.
Perhaps more telling is that case rates in Tarrant county, where the fight took place, have declined from a 7-day moving average of 169 to 125 over the same period of time.
It's also interesting to note that they had plateaued two weeks prior to the fight before continuing their decline after.
This does not mean that absolutely no one contracted a single case of Covid from the event, only that if the term "super spreader" is to have any meaning, it can't be applied to this situation.
It also does not mean that there was zero risk associated with the event, but rather that grown adults have the capacity to weigh those risks and make sound, rational, decisions for themselves absent the incessant badgering of those who would hold themselves above them.
Which reminds me...
You may want to check that propane tank, because you might be having a few more people over for July 4th than you expected, or at least more than President Joe Biden expected:
If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there's a good chance you, your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. That doesn't mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.
