A massive celebration on Monday night of the Crimson Tide’s 52-24 win over the Buckeyes could lead to a fresh wave of COVID-19 in Alabama.
Following Alabama rolling Ohio State to win the College Football Playoff National Championship game and secure the school’s 18th national title, fans packed the streets of Tuscaloosa to celebrate the victory, ignoring Mayor Walt Maddox’s warning to avoid mass gatherings.
“We can’t have block parties this year,” he said in a Twitter video. “There will be a time and place to celebrate, but this is not the time.”
As you can see below, Maddox’s warning fell on deaf, and likely intoxicated, ears.
The daily average of new coronavirus cases in Alabama for the week ending on January 11 was 30 percent higher than the previous two weeks, according to Yahoo.
There were 2,100 new cases recorded on January 11 and 13 deaths. More than 100 coronavirus-related deaths were recorded in the state on January 6, 8 and 9. Alabama is averaging 4,272 new cases per day in the last week, per The New York Times.
“Well that’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama,” SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt said on ESPN while watching footage of the celebration. “That’s a college town, we got college kids, and ya know, what can you say? … Not distancing … who knows if they’re masking.”
As the celebration raged, Tuscaloosa Police were dispatched to clear a path through town.
Eventually, traffic cameras showed the scene on University Boulevard had mostly been cleared.
Now we’ll just have to see if coronavirus cases in the area spike, the same way they did in California following sports fans celebrating the respective championship wins of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers.
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