In college sporting events, storming the field, where all the fans come out of the stands and onto the field to celebrate, has been a tradition after a big win for many decades. This has created some iconic moments at college football games that stand the test of time, such as “The Play”, when the Stanford Band rushed onto the field. However, this year due to the spread of Covid-19, many of these storming the field moments have not occurred due to the superspreader of the virus that storming the field could be.

This year when #4 ranked Notre Dame beat the #1 ranked team Clemson in football, the Notre Dame fans rushed the field to celebrate the win. This resulted in nearly 11,000 fans, the capacity of the stadium for the game, being on the field in close proximity to one another. While it was an amazing win for all in the Notre Dame community, the storming of the field was scary to many with Covid-19 already spiking on the campus, the fear of increased spread of the virus following this event was a major concern amongst many in the community.

The President of Notre Dame, John Jenkins, imposed mandatory Covid-19 testing for all students following the weekend of the game and threatened strict penalties for those who didn’t comply with the protocols. The storming of the field at Notre Dame stadium led to an uptick in Covid 19 cases on Notre Dame’s campus, and it called into question many of the safety precautions put in place at various colleges, especially at Notre Dame itself. Along with increasing the Covid-19 case numbers at Notre Dame, the bad press that Notre Dame took, as a result, led to many people believing that Notre Dame was not taking the virus seriously.

The spread of Covid-19 that took place on Notre Dame’s campus, due to the lack of social distancing and masks while rushing the field, has mirrored various superspreader events that have taken place around the country. For instance in New Orleans, the swinger event led to 41 people at the event testing positive for the virus, due to many at the event not following the social distancing and mask protocols put in place, similar to what transpired at Notre Dame.

During a time in the United States that has seen a major increase in COVID-19 cases, social media and the national media has frowned upon events that have failed to follow social distancing and mask protocol. The event that took place at Notre Dame Stadium not only led to an uptick in Covid-19 around the campus but was also shown live on NBC allowing for all to see the failure of Covid-19 protocols at Notre Dame.

Many of these instances that have become Covid-19 superspreader-events are as a result of failing to follow protocols put in place for the safety of individuals at a given event. It is important for all to understand and follow protocols in an attempt to limit the further mass spread of the virus when it can be avoided.