SAFETY SUPER BOWL at the

“Standing on the sidelines, I hear the sounds of Lady Gaga’s version of the national anthem end and the Blue Angels fly overhead as the teams move onto the field. Outside, the stadium footprint has been expanded to include on-site sponsor, corporate, and fan events with temporary structures and fan plazas; large broadcast and entertainment compounds for national and international media, pregame shows, and halftime shows; and compounds for security, medical, and public safety resources. This is surrounded by a 300-foot buffer zone and enclosed with a hardened secure perimeter with access through high-security entrances with bag checks, security wands, metal detectors, X-ray machines, and sniffing dog teams. Well-armed security teams rove both inside and outside the perimeter. Vehicles that need to enter the perimeter must be sanitized and go through the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, which applies imaging and radiation scanning. Air is constantly sampled for nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiation levels. One can’t help but think of the long process of planning, implementation, and problem-solving that brought us to this point, and the game hasn’t even started.”

(From ACEP Now, the magazine of the American College of Emergency Physicians)