Garth Brooks Concert Goers In Kansas City Asked To Quarantine

More than 70,000 people attended a Garth Brooks concert, most of them unmasked, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Saturday night (8/7) are now being asked to quarantine according to the Kansas travel quarantine list.

According to the Kansas City Star, Kansas residents who went to the concert and are not fully vaccinated from COVID-19 will have to quarantine for seven days with a negative test result or ten days without testing after the event if they go to their state.

This requirement applies to people who attend “any out-of-state mass gatherings of 500 or more where individuals do not socially distance (6 feet) and wear a mask.”

There is no way to know how many attendees at Garth's show were unvaccinated.

Fully vaccinated people who are asymptomatic since the event are not being asked to quarantine. The guidance also exempts people who have had COVID-19 in the past six months and can prove it with a positive PCR or antigen test. They should also be asymptomatic after the event.

Health officials at the University of Kansas Health System admits that the quarantine probably is not enforceable. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the health system, said, “I think it’s one more thing to get people thinking about doing the right thing. Again, we’ve always stated, it’s not just one thing that is going to help stop the spread it is multiple things including vaccination, masking, distancing.”

Hawkinson added, “I think people are nervous because the Garth Brooks concert was sold out. In the Royals’ games technically you can spread out a little bit because the stands aren’t as full, but there are times where your section’s pretty full, and so the same rule would apply to that, and I don’t think people are doing it for that.”

Garth held a press conference before the Kansas City show where he said among other things that he was vaccinated, his band and crew were vaccinated, and everyone that works for him on the road has had the vaccine.