EDITORIAL: Make Super Bowl super safe: Stay home

PHOTOGRAPHER: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes celebrates with teammates after their win in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020.

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This ain’t Thanksgiving. And it’s not Christmas.

There are no relatives you only get this one chance to see all year. No family traditions to maintain. No long-distance traveling that requires people to sleep over.

It’s the Super Bowl. A football game.

There aren’t even any local teams playing. (Sorry Bills fans.)

It’s not worth risking the spread of the coronavirus by hosting large gatherings or going out in large groups to friends’ houses or crowded bars to watch the game.

The game is on regular TV this year (CBS), which means you don’t even have to find some place to watch it on cable.

So despite the temptation to treat this year’s Super Bowl like every other Super Bowl, this is the year to take Dr. Fauci’s advice: “Lay low and cool it.”

You can still enjoy the game in much the same way as you always have.

We encourage you to support local businesses by ordering pizza and wings and other traditional Super Bowl chow, either doing take-out or pickup. Or do a big grocery shop to stock up before the game (masks on, social distance, follow the arrows on the floor).

If you need to be with your friends, do a Zoom Super Bowl party. All the rowdiness with no one else’s mess to clean up.

If you must party hearty, staying home means you can probably drink a few more adult beverages during the game because you’re not going to be driving anywhere.

While the covid vaccine is being rolled out and some of the most recent infection numbers are encouraging, we are still very much deep into this dangerous pandemic.

Those numbers could easily and rapidly change for the worse if people use the Super Bowl as a Super Spreader, just like every covid holiday has turned out to be.

This is still a major health emergency. Hospitals are still crowded. People are still dying at an alarming rate. Don’t let up.

If you absolutely insist on going out, there’s another traditional danger to be aware of — drunk drivers.
Super Bowl Sunday is traditionally a heavy day for driving while intoxicated.

Last year during Super Bowl weekend, police in New York issued more than 26,000 tickets and made 850 arrests for DWI. Despite the expected decline in travel, police once again will be out in force looking for impaired drivers, starting today and continuing through Monday.

Drink responsibly so you or someone else isn’t injured or killed.

Better yet, stay home with the immediate family (as the Centers for Disease Control recommends).

Enjoy what promises to be a great game involving two great quarterbacks.

And have a Super safe day.