Wild maskless Super Bowl celebrations in Covid variant hotspot spark superspreader fears

Florida has recorded highest number of cases of new UK variant of any state across country

Thousands of Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans gathered on the streets of Tampa, Florida in wild celebrations following the Super Bowl, prompting fears of a superspreader event in the new variant hotspot.

Crowds of fans spilled into open spaces across the city after the team's win on Sunday, with a number of viral videos following the game showing largely maskless crowds with little social distancing.

Footage posted to Twitter by Fox 13 reporter Gloria Gomez showed crowds into streets downtown blocking traffic, dancing on an intersection.

A clip from The Tampa Bay Times showed similar scenes of riotous celebrations in Ybor City with little consideration for coronavirus guidance by fans.

According to the newspaper, crowds were packed outside the stadium before, during, and after the game, while fans also packed bars and restaurants in SoHo.

Another video from Fox 13 showed fans “flooding” Howard Avenue in Soho, again with little compliance to mask-wearing or social distancing guidelines in sight.

The scenes come despite warnings from health officials that disregard for guidance during celebrations could cause a spike in infections and fears over the spread of a new variant in the state.

Ahead of the game on Sunday, Dr Anthony Fauci warned Americans to keep celebrations to a minimum for this year's Super Bowl, asking fans to “lay low and cool it."

"You don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with, you just don't know if they're infected,” he said.

In another appearance ahead of Super Bowl weekend the top infectious diseases expert warned that the celebration could lead to another spike in infections such as those at Christmas and New Year's Eve.

“Every time we do have something like this, there always is a spike — be it a holiday, Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving,” he said on The Today Show.

Tampa itself had been placed under a temporary ordinance mask mandate ahead of the weekend, with the city’s mayor Jane Castor having urged people to follow guidelines.

“Well, we’ve done so well in putting on a safe Super Bowl, when we do win tonight, I just want to keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds,” she said according to The Times. “Celebrate, but do it safely. Simply wear a mask.”

The city’s mask order says those who are not wearing a mask could face a penalty of up to a $500 fine, but that does not have appeared to have deterred party goers.

It is unclear if the police who patrolled the streets handed out any citations for people not wearing masks. 

The celebrations come as Florida continues to record cases of a new, more transmissible variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK named B117.

According to data from the Centres for Disease Control, 201 recorded cases of the new variant have been identified in the state, more than any other of the 33 states that have recorded infections of the new variant as of Sunday.

The variant is believed to be twice as transmissible as the dominant strain in the US, meaning its spread could lead to increased hospitalisations and put pressure on health services.

Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm told NBC News’ Meet the Press last week that “we are going to see something like we have not seen yet in this country,” due to the new variant.

However, ongoing fears from officials did little to deter revelers who continued late into the night on Sunday, according to The Times, with traffic in certain areas forced to shut down and crowds ordered to disperse.

As large gatherings without masks began to unfold across the city on Saturday, the Tampa Police Department described the scenes as “incredibly disappointing.”

They added: “The city spent the better part of a year educating residents on precautions due to the pandemic and have recently put a mask order in place for both the entertainment and event zones to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors to our great City.”

Hillsborough County has recorded over 100,000 infections of the novel disease and 1367 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic began, according to the county's website.

Statewide, there have been more than 1.7 million cases of the coronavirus in Florida and more than 27,600 deaths.