Mar 4, 2021 - Sports

Tampa-area officials say Super Bowl wasn't a super-spreader event

Buccaneers fans celebrate their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LV in a parking lot near Raymond James Stadium. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Despite dire predictions, Tampa’s Super Bowl was not a coronavirus super-spreader event, Hillsborough County health officials said yesterday, per the Tampa Bay Times.

By the numbers: 53 cases in Florida and four more elsewhere were found to be associated with official Super Bowl events.

There was slight uptick in the percentage of people testing positive locally in the weeks after the Super Bowl. Hillsborough's positivity rate was 7.9%, compared to Florida's 7.3%.

A caveat: Health officials did caution that "a large percentage of people" were unwilling to share information about their gameday activities.

"The true number of COVID cases related to this community-wide event is likely much higher," said Michael Wiese, the county's chief epidemiologist.

This story first appeared in the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.

Sign up here.

Add Axios on Google

Tampa-area officials say Super Bowl wasn't a super-spreader event

More Tampa Bay stories