Welp, the second wave of the coronavirus has officially arrived with COVID-19 cases reaching record highs as the U.S hits its seventh straight day of over 100,000 new reported cases. However, you’d never know that we were at the apex of a global pandemic watching the somewhat-but-not-really socially distanced 2020 Country Music Awards. Even before airing on ABC on Wednesday night, the CMAs were already a hot, COVID-y mess with three artists, including the problematically named Lady A, dropping out at the last minute due to exposure to COVID-19. Nevertheless, the show (for some reason) decided to go on, with a mask-less, semi-socially distanced event at Nashville’s Music City Center. Can you say … yikes!
The attendees, most of whom appeared to be nominees, were dispersed at various tables and booths surrounding a circular stage with approximately four people per table sitting. From our vantage point, there were at least 20 booths/tables, which by our expert calculations would mean at least 80 people (not counting crew members and performers) are currently in an enclosed space listening to live music at the height of the pandemic. Oof. Hosts Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker definitely came within six feet of each other while making light of the superspreader event of it all during their joint opening monologue, joking that McEntire’s new man, actor Rex Linn, has to stay six feet away from country-music sweetheart Carrie Underwood at all times, per Reba’s rules. Ha. Ha. Ha. The worst part is there’s not a mask in sight onstage or in the audience. So, if you want to feel even the least bit positive about the nation’s prospects of defeating the coronavirus, we recommend watching truly anything other than the CMAs right now. Excuse us while we go wash our hands for 20 uninterrupted minutes and order two boxes of N95 masks for no reason in particular. Sigh, it’s going to be a long winter …