Mass gatherings contributed to early COVID‐19 mortality: Evidence from US sports

Abstract

Social distancing is important to slow the community spread of infectious disease, but it creates enormous economic and social cost. Thus, it is important to quantify the benefits of different measures. We study the ban of mass gatherings, an intervention with comparably low cost. We exploit exogenous spatial and temporal variation in NBA and NHL games -which arise due to the leagues' predetermined schedules -and the suspension of the 2019-20 seasons. This allows us to estimate the impact of indoor mass gatherings on COVID-19 mortality in affected US counties. One additional mass gathering increased the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths in affected counties by 9 percent.

Mass Gathering Sport Events and the Spread of Viral Respiratory Infection: Japanese Professional Baseball and Influenza

“…These empirical results are consistent with the recent evidence from the U.S. on positive relationship between mass-gathering sporting event and the spread of influenza and COVID-19 (Ahammer et al, 2020; Cardazzi et al, 2020; Stoecker et al, 2016). As large gatherings of people increase, the frequency of human contact and the probability of transmission increases (Stoecker et al, 2016).…”

“…The second set of studies, which began to receive attention following the global epidemic of COVID-19, analyzed the impact of professional sporting events on the spread of infectious diseases within local communities. Generally, these studies have found consistent results in which professional sport teams and events produce negative externalities in the form of increased respiratory disease spread and/or mortality rates, thus supporting the call for restrictions on all forms of MGs during the COVID-19 epidemic (Ahammer et al, 2020; Cardazzi et al, 2020; Olczak et al, 2020; Stoecker et al, 2016).…”

“…In Western European countries such as the United Kingdom and Italy, large mass-gathering sporting events such as the Cheltenham Festival and football's Champions League matches held in March 2020 are repeatedly reported to be a major factor in the spread of the COVID-19 in the host region as well as in the areas where both clubs were based. In the latest academic research report, Ahammer et al (2020) found that one additional NBA or NHL game in early March 2020 increased the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths in affected US counties by 8.9 percent. In the context of England, Olczak et al (2020) demonstrated that football games in February and March 2020 were associated with increased COVID-19 cases and deaths during April 2020.…”

“…Along this line, large gatherings are also believed to contribute to viral spread. Recent studies report a positive impact of exogenous events during pandemic on local COVID-19 transmission, including university students returning from spring break (Mangrum & Niekamp, 2020), in-person voting (Cotti et al, 2021), large-scale motorcycle rallies (Dave et al, 2020), and professional sporting events (e.g., Ahammer et al, 2020; Olczak et al, 2020). As such, we contribute to the literature by providing ex-post evidence from Japan on the impact of hosting additional professional sporting games on local infectious disease transmission using pre-pandemic data.…”

Opening of hotels and ski facilities: Impact on mobility, spending, and Covid‐19 outcomes

“…Closer to our population of interest, that is, adults, are studies analyzing sports, social, and political gatherings. Large sporting events such as hockey, basketball, and football games can lead to higher COVID‐19 prevalence (Alexander et al., 2020; Breidenbach & Mitze, 2021; Carlin et al., 2021). Similarly, smaller gatherings such as birthdays or bar meetings increase the likelihood of subsequent infections (Harris, 2020; Whaley et al., 2021).…”