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Health

Every adult in Utah could be vaccinated by end of May, director says; 1,299 COVID-19 cases, 17 deaths reported Wednesday

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s number of COVID-19 cases increased by 1,299 on Wednesday, with 17 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.

The health department estimates there are 29,337 active cases of the disease as of Wednesday — the first day that estimate has dipped below 30,000 since October 28.

Utah Department of Health Executive Director Rich Saunders told the Utah Senate Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday afternoon that Utah will have enough doses to vaccinate every Utahn before June, according to the Deseret News.

“We will reach all of the adult population, if 100% of them wanted it, by the end of May,” Saunders said.

The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 1,053, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period reported via the “people over people” method is now 15.3%. The positive test rate per day for that time period reported via the “test over test” method is now 7%.

This week, the health department began reporting two different methods for calculating the seven-day rolling average positive test rate per day. The “people over people” method is calculated by dividing the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 by the total number of people tested. The health department has been using that method to calculate the rolling average since the start of the pandemic.

The agency is now also reporting the “test over test” method, which is calculated by dividing the total number of positive tests by the total number of tests administered. The “test over test” method accounts for duplicate positive and negative COVID-19 tests, where the “people over people” method does not.

The “people over people” method biases the average higher, while the “test over test” method is biased lower, and the true average is thought to be somewhere in the middle, according to health department state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn. The health department will continue to provide both reporting methods daily, which will help better compare Utah’s pandemic to that of other states, Dunn said.

There are 323 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 131 in intensive care, state data shows. About 80% of all intensive care unit beds in Utah are occupied as of Wednesday, including about 84% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals, according to state data. About 53% of non-ICU hospital beds in Utah are filled Wednesday.

A total of 442,476 vaccines have been administered in the state, up from 425,698 Tuesday. Of those, 117,305 are second doses of the vaccine.

The new numbers indicate a 0.4% increase in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,094,809 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 17.1% have tested positive for COVID-19.

The total number of COVID-19 conducted in Utah since the beginning of the pandemic, including duplicate positive and negative tests, is now 3,522,246. That is an increase of 23,334 tests conducted since Tuesday, and 8,988 of those were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.

The 17 deaths reported Wednesday were:

  • A Box Elder County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Box Elder County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Carbon County woman who was over the age of 85 and was hospitalized when she died
  • A Cache County man who was over the age of 85 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Salt Lake County man who was over the age of 85 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Salt Lake County man who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
  • A Salt Lake County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Tooele County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Utah County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Utah County man who was over the age of 85 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Utah County man who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Wasatch County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Weber County man who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Weber County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
  • A Weber County man who was over the age of 85 and was hospitalized when he died
  • A Weber County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was a resident of a long-term care facility

Wednesday’s totals give Utah 357,339 total confirmed cases, with 14,007 total hospitalizations and 1,765 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 326,237 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, the health department reported.

There is not a COVID-19 news conference scheduled for Wednesday. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is scheduled to provide a pandemic update at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Methodology:

Test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive COVID-19 test results are reported to the health department immediately after they are confirmed, but negative test results may not be reported for 24 to 72 hours.

The total number of cases reported by the Utah Department of Health each day includes all cases of COVID-19 since Utah’s outbreak began, including those who are currently infected, those who have recovered from the disease, and those who have died.

Recovered cases are defined as anyone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 three or more weeks ago and has not died.

Referral hospitals are the 16 Utah hospitals with the capability to provide the best COVID-19 health care.

Deaths reported by the state typically occurred two to seven days prior to when they are reported, according to the health department. Some deaths may be from even further back, especially if the person is from Utah but has died in another state.

The health department reports both confirmed and probable COVID-19 case deaths per the case definition outlined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. The death counts are subject to change as case investigations are completed.

For deaths that are reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they did not have COVID-19, according to the health department.

Data included in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. For more localized data, visit your local health district’s website.

More information about Utah’s health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.

Information is from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health compiles and reports COVID-19 data, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts and scroll down to the “Data Notes” section at the bottom of the page.

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Health

Fully vaccinated people can skip Covid quarantines, CDC says

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That doesn’t mean they should stop taking precautions, the CDC noted in updated guidance. It’s just not necessary for them to quarantine.

“Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID-19,” the CDC said in updates to its webpage with guidance on vaccination.

“Vaccinated persons with an exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not required to quarantine if they meet all of the following criteria,” the CDC added.

The criteria: They must be fully vaccinated — having had both shots with at least two weeks having passed since the second shot. That’s because it takes two weeks to build full immunity after the second dose of vaccine.

But the CDC says protection may wear off after three months, so people who had their last shot three months ago or more should still quarantine if they are exposed. They also should quarantine if they show symptoms, the CDC said.

“This recommendation to waive quarantine for people with vaccine-derived immunity aligns with quarantine recommendations for those with natural immunity, which eases implementation,” the CDC said.

People who have been vaccinated should still watch for symptoms for 14 days after they have been exposed to someone who is infected, the CDC said.

And everyone, vaccinated or not, needs to follow all other precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, the CDC said. This is not least because it’s possible even vaccinated people could harbor the virus in their noses and throats, and pass it to others.

“At this time, vaccinated persons should continue to follow current guidance to protect themselves and others, including wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowds, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands often, following CDC travel guidance, and following any applicable workplace or school guidance, including guidance related to personal protective equipment use or SARS-CoV-2 testing,” the agency said.

Vaccines prevent symptomatic illness but they have not yet been shown to prevent asymptomatic illness, the CDC noted. While people with no symptoms can spread coronavirus, the CDC said, “symptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is thought to have a greater role in transmission than purely asymptomatic transmission.”

Plus, the benefits of not unnecessarily forcing people into lockdown for two weeks may outweigh the risks of transmission in these cases, the CDC said.

“These criteria could also be applied when considering work restrictions for fully vaccinated healthcare personnel with higher-risk exposures, as a strategy to alleviate staffing shortages. Of note, exposed healthcare personnel would not be required to quarantine outside of work, the CDC said.

“As an exception to the above guidance no longer requiring quarantine for fully vaccinated persons, vaccinated inpatients and residents in healthcare settings should continue to quarantine following an exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19; outpatients should be cared for using appropriate Transmission-Based Precautions,” the CDC added.

That’s because it’s not clear how effective the vaccine is in people who are hospitalized.

“Although not preferred, healthcare facilities could consider waiving quarantine for vaccinated patients and residents as a strategy to mitigate critical issues (e.g., lack of space, staff, or PPE to safely care for exposed patients or residents) when other options are unsuccessful or unavailable. These decisions could be made in consultation with public health officials and infection control experts.”

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Business

US Coronavirus: 70% to 85% of Americans need to be fully vaccinated for a return to normal, Fauci says. So far it’s less than 2%

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So far, less than 2% of Americans have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Across the US, more than 32.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered, with about 26.4 million people having received at least one dose. About six million people have received both doses, the CDC data shows.

Fauci said he’s hopeful the country can get to that high level of vaccinations by the end of the summer to the beginning of fall.

“Having said that,” he added, “There is an absolute ‘but’ in that. And the ‘but’ is that we have to address the variants.”

Experts have sounded the alarm about the new Covid-19 variants that have been detected in the US, warning the country is now in a race against time to vaccinate as many people as possible before the variants spread too far and possibly trigger another surge of infections.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm said earlier this week that a surge fueled by the variant first detected in the UK — the B.1.1.7 strain — is likely to occur “in the next six to 14 weeks.”
And there are also concerns around what the variants will mean for vaccine efficacy. Studies have suggested a variant from South Africa could pose a problem for vaccines, while a new report this week said a mutation that could impact vaccines has also been detected in samples of the B.1.1.7 strain.

The best thing Americans can do now, Fauci said, is to prevent the virus from spreading further and mutating.

“The only way a virus mutates (is) if it can replicate. So if you vaccinate people and double down on public health measures and keep the level of viral dynamics low we will not have an easy evolution into mutations,” he said. “That’s something that people really need to understand.”

“The way you stop those mutations: Get vaccinated and abide by the public health measures,” Fauci added.

Study: Younger adults are biggest spreaders of virus in US

His comments came as a group of researchers reported Tuesday that the biggest spreaders of Covid-19 in the US are adults aged 20 to 49 — and efforts to control the spread, including vaccinations, should probably focus on that age group.

The team of researchers at Imperial College London used cell phone location data covering more than 10 million people and publicly available information on the spread of the virus to calculate which age groups were most responsible.

They estimated that people 35 to 49 accounted for 41% of the new transmissions through mid-August, and adults 20 to 34 were responsible for another 35%. Children and teens accounted for just 6% of spread. while people 50 to 64 made up 15% of transmission.

Experts have previously warned that the surges were largely driven by younger groups, Fauci said, but that doesn’t mean those groups should get the vaccine “at the expense of getting the older people who have the underlying conditions, get vaccinated.”

“You don’t want to deprive them to get the younger ones, because they’re the ones that are going to wind up in the hospital and have a higher rate of death,” Fauci said.

More than 446,000 Americans have already lost their lives to the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University — and more than 100,000 have died this year alone.

States will see an increase in vaccine supply

Hoping to slow the pandemic as soon as possible, states have been pushing for more supply and ramping up their capabilities to get more shots into arms faster.

“Our challenge is supply, supply, supply,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement Tuesday. “Remember, we will get a vaccine to everybody, it’s just going to take some time.”

The Biden administration announced Tuesday it was boosting the weekly allocation of vaccines to states, tribes and territories by an additional 5%.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the increase will allow for the state to supply about 20% more vaccine doses to local governments in the coming weeks, which means they could choose to expand guidelines on who is eligible for a shot.

“We have statewide priorities set by the federal government but if a local government is now getting more (doses) and they believe in their local circumstance they want to prioritize taxi drivers, Uber drivers because they think that has been a problem, or developmentally disabled facilities or restaurant workers, they have that flexibility,” Cuomo said in a news conference Tuesday.

The state had to shut down and postpone many vaccination appointments following a massive winter storm that pounded the region this week.

New York City officials said Tuesday that people who had their appointments canceled due to weather will be contacted individually for rescheduling, highlighting the city was committed to not making any new appointments until all those people were taken care of.

Pharmacies prepare to start vaccinations

The Biden administration also said Tuesday it will begin direct shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to retail pharmacies next week — starting at about 6,500 stores.

“Millions of Americans turn to their local pharmacies every day for their medicines, flu shots, and much more. And pharmacies are readily accessible in most communities, with most Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy,” White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said.

CVS said in it will kick off vaccinations next week as part of the federal program. The 11 states where the pharmacy chain will begin vaccinations are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York (not including New York City), Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Vaccination appointments can be booked as early as February 9 at CVS locations that offer the vaccine, the statement said, and eligibility requirements in each jurisdiction will still apply.

The extra doses of vaccine for pharmacies will come from increased productions by vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer, Zients said.

“It’s all a result of the manufacturing scaling up, and we hope that we can do all we can, and we will do all we can, to continue that scale up and make more vaccines available,” Zients said.

CNN’s Maggie Fox, Amanda Watts, Jacqueline Howard, Samira Said, Laura Ly, Virginia Langmaid and Gisela Crespo contributed to this report.

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Health

People who get vaccinated may still spread the virus — and other things to know about COVID-19

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Dr. Michele Carbone, of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, and an international team of colleagues recently wrote an article — a kind of state-of-the-research summary — for the “Journal of Thoracic Oncology” that provides reliable, easy to understand information about COVID-19 that is both important and not readily ascertainable in the circus atmosphere of our news media.

Here are some highlights:

First the correct terminology: The name of the novel coronavirus is “SARS-CoV-2,” and it causes a disease called “COVID-19” in approximately 30 percent of the people who are infected.

Masks and social distancing help prevent infection, but the only way to be sure that you won’t get the virus is to stay home and not have visitors. It’s that simple.

But this would require us to sacrifice our normal living routines, such as spending time with friends and family, going to restaurants and shopping centers, doing our jobs in a social setting with colleagues — the things that define our lives.

Is it worth it? How to manage the risk?

Infections occur almost exclusively in enclosed environments

The virus floats in the air as aerosol. Open the windows and the risk of infection drops drastically, according to Carbone and his colleagues.

The more crowded the environment, the higher the risk of infection — for example, the risk is very high in a crowded, air-conditioned bus with closed windows. However, the crowded environment of a modern airplane is comparatively safer, they say — because the air in the cabin is filtered and it is exchanged entirely with outside air every 2 to 3 minutes.

Because we congregate inside with closed windows during cold winter months, the risk of infection is higher and more likely then.

Unintended consequences

We currently are diverting our attention and resources to trying to contain SARS-CoV-2 infections, which in turn is reducing efforts to prevent and treat cancer and other critical diseases. This could cost many lives.

Carbone and his colleagues note that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimated that this could be responsible for approximately 10,000 additional colon and breast cancer deaths because early cancer screening for those diseases has largely been suspended.

Moreover, NCI’s estimate did not consider other cancer types, and it assumed that all would revert to normal by January 2021 — which didn’t happen. The actual number of collateral deaths may be much higher.

Misleading statistics

According to Carbone and his colleagues, approximately 70 percent of SARS-CoV-2 infections are asymptomatic — but testing largely targets people who have symptoms; consequently, we are underestimating the magnitude of infections.

We also are overestimating the deaths caused by COVID-19, they say. Anyone who dies who has tested positive for COVID-19 is counted as a victim of the virus. We do not determine whether the virus was the main cause of death.

Three in four seriously ill patients are men, and most fatalities occur in older individuals with pre-existing conditions. COVID-19 deaths in those younger than 40 with no pre-existing conditions are very rare.

Vaccines

Three vaccines recently have become available.

Astra-Zeneca produced the “Oxford” vaccine, which currently is distributed only in the UK.

Pfizer and Moderna have each produced an RNA vaccine. These vaccines are available in the U.S. and Europe. RNA vaccines use new technology that has not been applied to mass vaccinations previously.

Antibodies are the proteins produced by the immune system that protect us from infection. Approximately 95 percent of the vaccinated subjects have developed IgG-antibodies which should protect them from the virus.

But these vaccines have been tested mainly on healthy adults younger than 60. The few older individuals who have received the vaccines produced fewer IgG-antibodies.

The vaccines haven’t been tested on children.

These vaccines will not stop the spread of COVID-19

IgG antibodies circulate in our blood and protect us from a systemic infection, i.e., from viruses spreading inside our body and making us sick.

A different kind of antibody, called, “IgA,” protects the body’s mucosal surfaces, such as the nose, pharynx, and intestine.

So far, no clinical trials are being performed on vaccines that produce IgA antibodies. The vaccines being tested only produce IgG antibodies.

This means that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can still infect the mucosal surfaces of vaccinated individuals.

This should not be a problem for people who are vaccinated. The IgG antibodies from their vaccinations should stop the virus from spreading inside their bodies, but virus that grows on the mucosal surfaces in their bodies can spread to other people.

However, people who are infected produce both IgA and IgG antibodies, so once they have recovered from the infection, they are “safe.” Re-infections are extremely uncommon.

When more than 60 percent of the population have antibodies that protect them from the virus, viral spread will decrease because the virus will not be able to find susceptible targets easily. This is called “herd immunity.”

No one knows how long herd immunity will last, but for SARS, which is caused by a closely related virus, it lasts several years.

Children

The main — or only — reason to vaccinate children is to protect adults, according to Carbone and his colleagues. Children — except those with some serious diseases or genetic conditions — generally do not get sick with COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccinations cause pain, fever and headaches that last a few days in most adult recipients. We don’t know what the side effects would be in children.

Will people vaccinate their kids knowing these things?

When will it end?

The fact that the vaccines currently being tested will not produce IgA-antibodies would not be a big problem if everybody were to be vaccinated, but that isn’t likely to happen.

Therefore, these vaccines alone will not get rid of the virus in the immediate future.

SARS-CoV-2 is spreading rapidly. Ten to 20 percent of the tests globally turn out to be positive. 

Therefore, according to Carbone and his colleagues, a combination of vaccinations and infections should produce herd immunity soon, possibly by June, when COVID-19 will decrease and — hopefully — almost disappear soon after.

Meanwhile, more effective treatments are being developed; thus, the death rate from COVID-19 should decrease in coming months.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Follow his blog at https://nolanrappaport.blogspot.com.

 



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World

Coronavirus: Massachusetts Democratic congressman, vaccinated for Covid-19, tests positive for virus

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“This afternoon U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch received a positive test result for COVID-19 after a staff member in the Congressman’s Boston office had tested positive earlier in the week,” Lynch’s spokeswoman Molly Rose Tarpey said in a statement Friday.

The Massachusetts Democrat plans to isolate and will vote by proxy in Congress over the coming week, according to Tarpey.

The congressman had received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and had tested negative for Covid-19 before attending President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, Tarpey said. But she did not specify when Lynch received each dose of the vaccine.

Covid-19 vaccines prevent illness, but do not necessarily prevent infection. If someone tests positive and doesn’t get sick, the vaccine has worked as intended. If someone tests positive within a few weeks of receiving the second dose, it may be because the vaccine hasn’t yet fully kicked in.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says building immunity to Covid-19 “typically takes a few weeks” after vaccination.

Lynch is the latest member of Congress to test positive for the virus in recent months, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage across the country.

A few members of Congress and more than three dozen Capitol Police officers tested positive for Covid-19 after the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. Experts consider the riot, which broke out as Congress was certifying the 2020 presidential election results, a likely super spreader event.

Three Democrats earlier this month said they tested positive for Covid-19 after sheltering in place that day with other members of Congress who chose not to wear masks.

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Health

At Current Pace, It Will Be 2022 To Before L.A. County Is Vaccinated – Deadline

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There was good news and bad news on the LA Covid-19 front on Friday. On the one hand, the key numbers were down virtually across the board. On the other hand, with virus variants worrying officials and the region’s vaccine rollout sputtering, there was concern of another surge.

“Cases have peaked at about 15,000 a day and now appear to be on the decline,” said Los Angeles County Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon.

The daily number of Covid-19 deaths reported by the county remained elevated, with 256 fatalities announced Friday. It was the third straight day the number topped 200, with 262 fatalities reported on Wednesday and Thursday.

The county also reported another 9,277 cases, but health officials noted Thursday that the average daily number of new cases had dropped 30% in the past week.

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Most recent figures provided from the state showed 7,073 people hospitalized in the county, including 1,687 in intensive care. That’s a significant drop from the 8,000-plus patients that were reported in early January and gave hope that the number of virus hospitalizations would drop below 7,000 for the first time this year.

“Despite these promising trends,” said Simon, “I do want to emphasize that the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain far too high. So while there’s reason to be hopeful, we all must remain vigilant and continue to be disciplined.”

Simon also noted that, despite the triumph of 7,730 vaccinations Thursday at Dodger Stadium earlier this week, the county was struggling to administer vaccines. He blamed a shortage of doses on hand and continued uncertainty about future allocations. He noted that the county’s large-scale vaccination sites that opened this week — each capable of administering 4,000 shots per day — will be operating at much lower capacity next week, likely just 2,000 to 2,500 vaccinations a day. Why?

The county expects to receive about 143,900 more doses of vaccine next week. However, since people need to receive two doses of the medication, spaced three to four weeks apart, the bulk of the vaccine coming next week will be used to administer second doses to people who have already received the first shot. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer estimated earlier that only 37,900 of the doses coming next week will be available for people to receive their first dose.

Simon said Friday that the most recent figures showed that 441,140 doses of vaccine have already been administered in the county, although he said that number is likely much higher due to delays in tallying vaccination totals. As of this week, the county had received about 853,000 total doses.

Simon said people should not look at those numbers and assume there are 400,000 unused doses in the county, noting again the lag in vaccination reports and the daily administration of doses. He also noted the need for much of the medication to be used as second doses for people who have already
received the first shot.

If the county’s weekly allotment doesn’t dramatically improve beyond the current average of about 150,000, “the vaccination effort will likely extend well into 2022,” said Simon.

“We are hopeful vaccine production and shipments to California will increase,” he said. “We have a new federal administration that has pledged to make this happen. We are also hopeful that several other vaccine manufacturers will receive federal authorization for emergency use of their vaccines in the coming months, and that should help increase supplies to California and ultimately to Los Angeles County.”

He said if the county can get its allocation increased to 500,000 per week, “we would have the potential to reach 75% of the adult population in the county, or 6 million adults, by mid-summer.”

In the meantime, he urged patience, saying, “We do understand how important it is to get vaccine out as quickly as possible.”

Even with the falling Covid case numbers and hospitalizations, the imperative for a quick vaccine rollout was underlined by mounting reports about new virus variants — some in California — that may be more infectious and, potentially, less susceptible to the current vaccines.

City News Service contributed to this report.



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Sports

Super Bowl LV will host 22,000 fans, including 7,500 vaccinated health care workers

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Super Bowl LV will have 22,000 fans in attendance at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., including 7,500 vaccinated health care workers, the NFL announced Friday.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a news release that the health care workers will be guests of the league to thank them for their service during the coronavirus pandemic. The health care workers will come from hospitals in Tampa and other areas of Central Florida and will receive free tickets to the game.

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“These dedicated health care workers continue to put their own lives at risk to serve others, and we owe them our ongoing gratitude,” Goodell said. “We hope in a small way that this initiative will inspire our country and recognize these true American heroes. This is also an opportunity to promote the importance of vaccination and appropriate health practices, including wearing masks in public settings.”

There will be 14,500 additional fans allowed to attend the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. The NFL said the protocols for fans attending the game outdoors include mandatory mask-wearing, social-distancing, podded seating, touchless concession stands and other security checkpoints.

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“Florida is proud to host Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to crown the champion of an unprecedented NFL season,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

“On behalf of Floridians and football fans across the nation, I’d like to thank the many men and women who worked hard to make this game a reality, especially our frontline health care workers who have worked tirelessly over the past year to keep people safe. I look forward to the positive impact this game will have on the Tampa Bay area, and my family and I can’t wait for the big game.”

Several teams began hosting fans throughout the season. Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., will each have a limited number of fans in the stands for the conference championship games.

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Super Bowl LV kicks off Feb. 7.

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