KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A lack of cooperation is making it difficult for the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department to determine whether there were cases of COVID-19 transmission at the Garth Brooks concert on Aug. 7 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
The city said its disease investigators have been hampered by unreturned phone calls and people who refuse to answer questions from contact tracers.
“We have spoken to a few who went to the concert,” Michelle Pekarsky, KCMO Health Department public information officer, said via email, “but because they also went (to) other public places and had contact with many others in their circle and beyond, we cannot know where they got the virus.”
The health department has faced the same challenge investigating COVID-19 cases among fans who attended Kansas City Royals games — and they are not alone.
“For case investigations, the percentage of people who were willing to complete the interview has gone down over time,” said Chip Cohlmia, the communicable disease prevention and public health preparedness division manager for the Jackson County Health Department. “Looking at my numbers, back in April, we had about 86% of our case patients be willing to complete an interview. Over time that has gone down to about 70%.”
When a positive COVID-19 case is identified, disease investigators make contact to assess symptoms, determine symptom onset and nail down who else might have been exposed.
Absent those interviews, containing an outbreak is almost impossible, so ultimately the lack of cooperation only prolongs the pandemic.
“Contact tracing is really the primary way that we can identify those individuals who have been exposed and start implementing a quarantine before they become infectious,” Cohlmia said. “Individuals who are infectious with COVID-19 are infectious for two days before symptom onset up until 10 days after symptom onset.”
Officially, there have been no cases of transmission linked to Chiefs or Royals games or the Garth Brooks concert, which was the largest mass gathering in the Kansas City region since the start of the pandemic.
The Royals began operating Kauffman Stadium at full capacity again on May 31, drawing two of its three largest crowds of the season last weekend for a series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The club has averaged nearly 19,400 fans on the current homestand, which has featured the New York Yankees, Cardinals and Houston Astros.
The Chiefs began selling tickets for the 2021 season at full capacity in May and plan to allow 70,000-plus for games — similar to the Garth Brooks concert — after being capped at 22% capacity throughout the 2020 season, including the playoffs.
The health department said 35 people were vaccinated at the Garth Brooks show, where concert-goers were required to wear masks when indoors at the stadium.
Chiefs fans also will be required to wear masks indoors, except when actively eating or drinking, as long as the city’s mask mandate remains in effect.
Brooks, who sold out Arrowhead in one day, encouraged fans to wear masks ahead of the show.
His wife, fellow country music star Trisha Yearwood, battled COVID-19 in February. She made an appearance during the encore on stage for a few songs.
Brooks announced Wednesday that he was canceling the remaining five shows on his stadium tour amid the COVID-19 surge.
