Chicago city officials broke up a party of 300 ne'er-do-wells at a Wicker Park establishment this past weekend, where there was no social distancing and scarce mask-wearing. The same personal conduct took place at the Chicago Sports Complex where a party of over 600 threw caution to the wind before receiving a long-term closure order.
I knew if I looked beyond Chicago headlines I would find other groups of super-spreaders ignoring common sense and partying rave-style, helping to swamp our hospitals. Sure enough, here's New York.
via The New York Times:
Sheriff's deputies arrived at a building in Midtown Manhattan just before 3 a.m. on Saturday and found almost 400 people drinking and partying inside. Few were wearing face masks.
Not to be limited to the States, Birmingham, England had a 200 person rager broken up by authorities too.
It seems like a majority of people understand the big picture and how to get out of this virus nightmare sooner. But despite many people giving it their safest efforts the numbers of infected keep increasing.
Is it because of events like these? Maybe these parties were just the ones officials were aware of and able to shut down. There could be a multitude of 50-plus gatherings every night in every U.S. county for all we know. And certainly there are many municipalities that are not required to do anything about it. In fact, the Tuscaloosa, Alabama city council approved a 600-person party in November. The sorority that requested permission finally got hold of their senses and canceled it on their own.
If a large bump in cases comes from Thanksgiving get-togethers it will likely reveal itself mid-December, 2 weeks after the holiday. Brace yourselves.
