Concerns raised over Delaware rodeo that hosted 1,500 people

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

BRIDGEVILLE, Del. (AP) — Delaware Gov. John Carney says that a rodeo that was held in defiance of the state’s coronavirus restrictions could be a COVID-19 “superspreader.”

The News Journal reported Wednesday that as many as 1,500 people attended the event on Saturday in Bridgeville in Sussex County. Carney said at his weekly coronavirus press briefing that the event “is frankly a prescription for disaster.”

Video shows hundreds of people packed together throughout the day and into the evening. Many were not wearing face masks. Outdoor gatherings can have no more than 250 people under the state’s coronavirus restrictions. Larger gatherings must receive special permission from the state.

Delaware State Police said that troopers arrived and closed the entrance to additional guests. But they decided the safest way to end the event was to allow it to “come to a peaceful close at the scheduled time.” An investigation into how the event came to be is ongoing.

Read more: https://apnews.com/6a1d0e81c9df202f7b36c5a31aebd499

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And Gov. Carney (DE) has been whining about why Gov. Murphy (NJ) keeps putting them on and taking them off and putting them back on the NJ quarantine list. Here in Philly we cover both states' media markets and all I can do is shake my head. And what is sad about this is that it was a Hispanic-focused event, a group, like all POC, who are most impacted by COVID-19 due to often being front-line workers and having disparate healthcare/health conditions.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. jerks

[BHDem53]

2. Delaware has rodeos?

[ironflange]

3. My sentiments exactly

[Dios Mio]

4. My very first thought.

I would like to read a local description of the event.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. It's a traveling show and they have a Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/RodeoTierraCaliente/videos/308723450417887/?t=6

[SharonClark]

7. https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2020/09/bridgeville-party-under-investigation/

and
https://www.wdel.com/news/state-slams-illegal-gathering-in-bridgeville-fears-it-could-be-super-spreader/article_661c9922-f23d-11ea-8639-b3e71201b830.html

My question: No one in law enforcement or the department of health had a clue this event was in the works?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. Tollbooth Roping - it's a major event. nt

[SharonClark]

6. RI should fine the organizers big bucks and ban them from the state.

Money talks.

[Danmel]

8. Delaware is back on the NYS quarantine list too

Smh

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Del. rodeo and concert organizers fined $21,000 for 'severe non-compliance'

Del. rodeo and concert organizers fined $21,000 for ‘severe non-compliance’

ByCris Barrish September 11, 2020

Updated at 8:35 p.m. on 9/11/2020

{snip}

The operators of the rodeo and concert that drew some 1,500 people who crowded onto a remote Sussex County farm last Saturday have been fined $21,000 for not enforcing COVID-19 State of Emergency restrictions requiring face covering and social distancing. They also got fined for failing to obtain approval to host an outdoor event with more than 250 people.

The fine for “severe non-compliance” by the Delaware Division of Public Health was levied against the Mexican Folkloric Dance Society of New York and it’s director, Alex Garcia, and Rancho El 24, where the event was held, state officials said Friday.

Garcia must also appear before the Office of Alcohol Beverage Control Commission for charges from the Bridgeville-area event and two more held at an undisclosed indoor location on Kirkwood Highway near Newark in the last two weeks.

Those charges are for allowing dancing, failing to make patrons wear face masks, not enforcing social distancing and exceeding the approved capacity. ... Garcia also was denied a permit for two Wilmington-area events that had been scheduled for this weekend “due to the public safety risk,” state spokeswoman Gina Chasanov said.

{snip}

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Thanks for the update

It's sortof a shame because they are catering to the large Meso and Latin American communities in the tristate area here, which have been dominated by the Caribbean Hispanics due to their higher percentages of the Hispanic population - notably Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans. But like other POC, they end up being more impacted by COVID-19 due to their occupations and the concern is that this may become a super-spreader event.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. De nada. Here's another link.

They're wearing those Mexican-style cowboy hats.

Organizers of rodeo festival face $21,000 in fines and liquor-related charges

By Delaware Business Now -September 11, 2020

Three administrative charges were filed against the licensee, Mexican Folkloric Dance Society of New York, in connection with the outdoor rodeo festival hosted in Bridgeville last weekend and two previous indoor events in northern Delaware.

https://whyy.org/articles/del-regulators-alerted-to-potential-super-spreader-concert-and-rodeo-but-did-not-stop-it/" target="_blank">WHYY reported that the event attracted 1,500 with many of the attendees appear to be packed into a small area. Troopers were called to the scene and while halting late attendees decided the best course of action was to let the event continue.

The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE) officers, who investigated the rodeo festival, charged Alex Garcia, director of this non-profit organization.

The charges stem from violations of the State of Emergency Order citing patrons dancing, not wearing masks, not social distancing and exceeding the maximum number of patrons allowed inside the event.

{snip}