Back on Feb. 2, 2020, the San Francisco 49ers lost 20-31 against the Kansas City Chiefs, in Super Bowl LIV. You can ask most 49er fans about the game and they will still be bitter about it. No one likes to see their team lose, but what if the 49ers losing the Super Bowl might have helped avoid the spread of Covid-19? Well, that just might be the case. 

     While the Super Bowl was in play, doctors in the Bay area were already dealing with the early stages of what quickly became a national pandemic. San Francisco was one of the first major U.S. cities to report the virus. Back on Jan. 31, California had reported its first cases of Covid-19. Two people in the area had confirmed coronavirus infections after traveling from Wuhan, China, and after doctors spent the night setting up the University of California San Francisco’s COVID-19 command center, those patients were transferred to UCSF the next morning. If the 49ers would have been Super Bowl champions, a victory parade would have been held in downtown San Francisco. 

     “It may go down in the annals as being a brutal sports loss, but one that may have saved lives,” said University of California San Francisco Department of Medicine chair Dr. Bob Wachter. 

      Thousands of people would have rallied shoulder to shoulder to show their support. Bars and restaurants all over the Bay Area would have been jammed with celebrants. Parties galore. A perfect place to spread a very infectious virus. 

    “It would not have taken much spread in early February for the thing to have gotten way out of hand,” said Wachter. “That would’ve been enough to light the fire.”

    Instead, the Super Bowl parade was held in Kansas city, Missouri, and more than 24,000 fans paraded the streets. Missouri didn’t have its first COVID-19 case until March 18, making Missouri a much better place to hold such a populated event. Whether you are happy about the 49ers losing or not, their loss in Super Bowl LIV could have possibly saved thousands.