Utahns still flocked to stores on Black Friday despite COVID-19 concerns

SALT LAKE CITY — Lines on Black Friday are always long.

But in 2020, with socially-distanced lines stretching out the door from different stores all over the Salt Lake Valley, it became a bigger concern than just if you were going to get the best deals.

“This year, we can't do that safely,” Dr. Eddie Stenehjem with Intermountain Healthcare said about both Thanksgiving and Black Friday earlier this week. “Our level of community transmission of COVID-19 is so high that we recommend you do not gather outside of family that lives inside your home.”

That didn’t stop most parking lots from being almost as busy as a normal Black Friday throughout the day.

“A lot of traffic, a lot of craziness,” said Kimberly Hunt, who was out shopping. "A lot of long lines… It's just busy.”

Most people we spoke with, however, said they were greatly limiting the number of stores that they were planning to go to because of the pandemic.

“Traditionally, I hate shopping online, so I’ve never gone online, and this year I’ve bought the bulk of my stuff online,” said Jackie Campbell, another Black Friday shopper. "Everyone was masked up… I was pretty impressed with it. I haven’t gone into a store where I haven’t seen everyone masked.”

But many on the comment section of FOX 13’s social media pages said they were opting to Black Friday shop from home online to stay away from large crowds at stores.

Watch above video for more on what people who were shopping said about the experience within stores.