Will Tuscaloosa host a COVID super-spread event two months from now on September 11?
This is, of course, the day the Alabama Crimson Tide football team hosts their first game of the year in front of more than 100,000 fans crammed into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
And if current trends continue, about two in three of those fans will not have received a single shot against the COVID-19 virus.
According to the latest New York Times report last Thursday, only 33% of our fellow citizens in Alabama are fully immunized. It’s .2% worse than Mississippi, making Alabama the least vaccinated state in the Union.
By the time kickoff against Mercer University, more than 35,000 students will be back in town. It remains to be seen how many of them will be vaccinated. No decision has been made as to whether a vaccination will be required for enrollment.
“This is a decision that will be taken later by the system office,†UA spokesman Shane Dorrill said last week. “We expect it later this month.”
Dorrill said an appeal on whether or not face masks are required for fans of the game is also pending from the system office, which administers the Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville campuses.
But let’s bet that no mask will be required and that no vaccine will be required for registration. This is Alabama, after all.
If September 11 turns out to be a big event, you really can’t blame the students for it, as only 10,000 to 15,000 of them usually attend home games.
No, it will be the fault of the large unvaccinated masses of Alabama football fans in attendance.
In fact, the SEC may well be rebranded as the Super-spreader Football League, as the 11 states in the conference rank among the bottom when it comes to vaccinations.
The numbers: Alabama 33%; Mississippi 33.2%; Arkansas 34.6%; Louisiana 35.5%; Georgia 37%; Tennessee 37.7%; South Carolina 39.2%; Missouri 39.4%; Texas 41.8%; Kentucky 44%; Florida 46.5%.
But I guess there’s only one more thing to say: Roll Tide, anyway …
Tommy Stevenson is retired associate editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Contact him at [email protected] or 205-292-2236.
