‘Lakers’ title celebrations to blame for new COVID-19 spike’: LA officials explain aftermath of Lakers winning Title

The number of Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles is on the rise, and the blame goes to the Lakers(partly).

The number of cases of Covid-19 had finally slowed down a bit in the Los Angeles area, however, since the Lakers won the 2020 NBA Finals, the number of cases have started rising.

The first spike was observed on 12th October, a day after the Lakers won. The numbers stayed consistent throughout the week, but they skyrocketed on the first weekend following the Championship.

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The LA Public Health Twitter page took out this warning/guidelines for celebrations, due to the sharp rise in the number of cases.

Health Advisory: High Risk of #COVID19 Transmission at Gatherings and Public Celebrations.
View https://t.co/5xTDPGrx4E for more. pic.twitter.com/2t5cqysZyz

— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) October 27, 2020

“The Lakers are to blame for the rise in cases”: LA County Officials

The Covid-19 cases spiked from 1000 daily cases in early October to over 1500 new cases per day in mid-October. In an interview with USA Today, the department official, blamed the Lakers fans and their title celebrations as a reason for the spike in LA County cases. .

During the celebrations, not a lot of fans were wearing masks and that would have massively contributed to the spread of the virus.

“It is impossible to determine the exact exposures that contributed to this increase. However, it is highly likely that gatherings to watch and/or celebrate the Lakers, along with any other gatherings that occurred 2-3 weeks ago where people weren’t wearing face coverings and were in close contact with each other, contributed to the rise in LA County cases.’’

There’s a spike in COVID-19 cases in the LA area.

Are the Lakers and Dodgers partly to blame? https://t.co/nD33Qtxgp8

— Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 27, 2020

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To add to the trouble, the LA Dodgers are in the World Series and are 1 game away from winning it all. That means more celebration, more contamination, more risk.

“As fans continue to watch and celebrate the mighty LA sport teams, we are mindful that if individuals are not adhering to the health officer order requirements of distancing, infection control and masking, cases will continue to rise which, unfortunately, not only leads to increased illness and death, but also slows down our recovery journey,” the department said.

Hopefully, the cases in the US stabilize and reduce soon. The sooner it happens, the sooner we can get back to the NBA returning in all its glory.