Last week, we were talking about Lollapalooza, the four-day festival in Illinois that went on as planned with almost 200K attending. Even though Lollapalooza required proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test upon entry, there was widespread concern about the spread of the Delta variant. Unfortunately, it looks like those concerns were founded. Numbers from Lolla aren’t in yet, but other festivals’ numbers are coming in and they aren’t good. As a matter of fact, they’re bad enough that the term “superspeader” is coming back into the language, which is depressing as hell. Two events, the Pendleton Whiskey Music Fest in Oregon and the Faster Horses Festival in Michigan, both took place in July. Pendleton has 62 COVID cases linked to it so far, whereas Faster Horses is up to 96 and growing.
The general rule of thumb when it came to COVID-19 was that outside was safer. Suddenly, picnics were all the rage and everyone was into walking and hiking again. Unfortunately, now with the return of large events and the spread of the Delta variant, the outdoors isn’t the completely safe haven we once thought as two recent COVID outbreaks have been linked to outdoor summer music festivals. Sadly, we are not totally out of the woods and superspreader events are still possible.
Thanks to contact tracing, it’s possible to learn when an event has become a superspreader situation. Authorities in Oregon are looking at 62 cases tied to July 10th’s Pendleton Whisky Music Fest in Pendleton, Oregon. And in Michigan, at least 96 cases can be traced to the Faster Horses Festival, which took place in Brooklyn, Michigan over the July 16th weekend.
The good news (if there is one in an article about a “COVID outbreak”) is that the people who contracted the virus at one concert were all tightly packed in together — by choice — near the front of the stage. The takeaway here is that even when you’re outdoors you should still observe social distancing and maybe not pack in shoulder-to-shoulder.
At the Pendleton festival, which saw 10,000 fans, most of the transmission occurred in the crowded area near the stage. “Not all, but the majority of cases have been traced to the party pit area,” Umatilla County, Oregon, Public Health Director Joe Fiumara said in a statement (via Rolling Stone). “There was a lot of area provided, but folks were pretty close together.”
Though experts agree that outdoors is safer than indoors when it comes to COVID-19 transmission, “If you’re outside and you’re packed in with someone, it’s getting closer to being like an indoor environment, where you have really high aerosol exposure from the person that’s a foot from you, or even inches from you,” aerosol scientist Alex Huffman, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Denver, told RS.
The article noted that neither of these festivals required proof of vaccination or negative COVID test for entry. Plus, almost all the cases were tied to those smooshed together in the pit or at the stage. So, the experts say if you do go to something like this, follow precautions and stay socially distanced. Looking at all these photos and those from Lolla, I don’t know where one could go to socially distance. For the record, I do understand that when these tickets were sold, we thought we were heading into a safer summer. But now we know. And we know these events aren’t safe. Hopefully these outbreaks will stay under 100. And hopefully people were vaccinated so they don’t get too sick.
Bands are reevaluating their return to the tour circuit as well. Many are dropping shows. After the finished Lollapalooza, Limp Bizkit canceled the rest of their tour. Fortunately for them it was a preemptive measure and not because anyone in their organization is sick. A lot of other bands who resumed touring again had one or more in their team contract the virus and have also cancelled some or all future shows.
I saw this local illness risk took from HealthWeather posted to Twitter. If you want to check the risk in your county, put your zip code in here and it will tell you how dangerous your area is currently. And wear a mask.
Photo credit: Pendleton Whiskey Festival and Faster Horses Instagram
We’re screwed until like 2023-24. It’s disgraceful that people cannot just get vaccinated AND masked in unity to save lives.
Disgraceful.
Agreed. I am so angry about that too.
If COVID is this bad in the summertime this year, imagine how much worse it will be in the winter with everyone inside and maskless kids back in school.
It’s gonna be awful. It has been so tough on our kids and the lasting damage this will leave on them breaks my heart.
The U.S has become the country of immediate gratification. It reminds me of that test where they show a child a cookie and say, hey, you can eat this cookie, or you can not eat this cookie and in an hour, I’ll give you a second cookie, and you can have both of them. Lot of people here are willing to give up the second cookie, because they don’t have the patience or foresight.
The sci fi story here is that the earth fights back.
For those of us awaiting the second cookie, it appears that we’re going to have to wait much longer than anticipated.
My sister and BIL are supposed to go to an outdoor concert at the end of Oct., and she’s already “fuming” about wearing a mask there, saying how it’s outdoors, and she’s vaccinated and it’s “unfair”, how even if she DOES catch it, she won’t die from it, only the UNvaxxed are being hospitalized/vented. This is a woman in her MID 50s, and she seems unable to grasp the fact that she can STILL get sick from this, have long lasting health issues, and even if *she* doesn’t, she can transmit it to others!
And SHE was supposedly the “really smart one” in the family! SMDH. And btw…she and her hub are VERY progressive libs, so I really don’t know *where* this is coming from!
Some people don’t want to see the facts, and there is no excuse for them. US hospitals are seeing younger and younger patients, with more serious conditions. On heart and lung machines because those organs are shutting down. Read one story where 20 percent of one hospital’s expectant mothers with COVID had lost their pregnancy because of COVID complications.
Thank you @Merricat. My second cookie is a booster shot. Some fun.
After consulting with an infectious disease specialist I have gonna off of the chemo that killed the antibodies from my Pfizer shots. Every joint aches, my feet are swollen, my nervous system is pins and needles from head to toe. My ears ring, my head aches, and my loss of balance means I took two falls over the weekend. I will endure this for 3 weeks before my (2nd) first shot, the wait time, and 3 weeks after my (2nd) second shot – in the hope of building up the spiked antibodies that protect. And no, I did not have an easy time with the vaccine the 1st time, so…
If you are not wearing a mask I assume you are not vaccinated. I don’t have any other option.
@Annie, below – Many years ago I was a teacher. I don’t know how (even healthy) I would feel about going back to a classroom without mask requirements in place. Children may be at less risk, but hey – how about we model civic responsibility, model socially responsible behavior by teaching them to wear masks?
If someone is not wearing a mask I assume they are not vaccinated. Period.
Be safe friends.
@Charlie I hope the vaccines “take” you for this time around and you are able to feel better soon.
I also assume that if someone isn’t wearing a mask they aren’t vaccinated, which is the opposite of how it’s supposed to be, but if someone wont get vaccinated at this point why would they wear a mask?
Outdoors is ONE Thing, but stumbling spittling & packed together drunk ain’t the same Thing. Concert goers can’t social distance.
That’s just a slippery slope justification for both music events & outdoor seating at restaurants.
We gotta stop w the commercially driven justification of super spreaders.
Agreed @yeah.no there’s a world difference between a park hang with friends and getting drunk and high on molly and packing yourself w/ 20K other ppl. It’s not just the outdoor fest that needs to be considered, but also the afterparties, the hookups, etc that come with it. Of course it’s going to be a s@&tshow
Someone mentioned the common good on another post.
The common good evaporated during the first year of the Trump administration. We no longer share the same values, values that at least I believed were basic in terms of right and wrong. It’s insanity. The virus may dissipate by 23-24 but you can’t take back misinformation or stupidity. Unfortunately cruelty and crassness is now seen as a truly “american” attitude by conservative constituents (not that cruelty is exclusive to them but…it’s like a requirement)
The common good began eroding long before Trump, under Reagan with privatization and trickle-down economics. When we stopped investing in shared public resources, when we started corporatizing and deregulating on a broad scale, we paved the “me-first screw-others” road we’re on now. And the 1% get richer while Republicans direct the blame for people’s anger and frustration toward some convenient “other” (immigrants, BIPOC, libs). And it works. That’s my inner tangent-rant every time I see stories like this. Gah, I need a Bennifer story.
Lexilla, you are exactly right. We can even trace it back to the Nixon era, but I usually bring up the Reagan era all the time when this subject comes up. The damage his administration did is immeasurable, and it helped set us up for where we are now. And I don’t know how the ship can be righted.
Thank you @Lexilla
My business won’t survive that. So they are not only ruining my fun social life, but they are going to destroy a business I was very happy with and proud of too. No pity! I will be fine. I am pivoting and I will figure it out by then, but I will never forgive them. They showed me who they are and CJ is exactly right above me.
I really believed that 2021 would just be a transitional year while people got vaccinated and things SLOWLY re-opened. 2022 is when I expected that we would start seeing “normalcy.” But instead there was a rush to get everything going asap and now here we are. And kids are about to go back to the petri dishes known as schools in the midst of all this. What a mess.
My favorite band was in town 2 weeks ago and my husband mentioned last week that he did look at tickets to see what was available to surprise me but decided against it. We’re fully vaccinated and always buy actual seats not lawn tickets. I’m awaiting test results to see if I have a break through case after going barely anywhere and always fully masked. If I’m positive I’m going to be a little salty I got sick after missing the show.
My Earth Wind and Fire concert from last year is rescheduled for 2022. Can’t have anything nice smh
I’m not going to single Dead and Co show. Sorry, I am a healthcare professional and I do not like the numbers I’m seeing. I even missed Blues Traveler last week.
It’s the right move, I know too many people
who have caught it on phish tour and aren’t testing positive until a couple shows later.
My husband is going to a phish show this weekend (tickets booked back in May-ish when it seemed things were going to continue to improve) and i’m going to have to have a talk with him about mask wearing etc. He’s not a “front of the pack” kind of guy at concerts, I’m hoping he just hangs back and tries to stay away from other people, but I’m getting nervous.
There was a big Garth Brooks concert a few days ago and they’ve already said you need to quarantine if you’re unvaccinated. Which obviously, but I’m side-eyeing the ones who are vaccinated for going anyway. I really need a haircut but my hairdresser was in attendance so nope to that. But until cities start fining these concert venues/artists for allowing this to happen, what do you expect?!
I’m in KC and likewise saw many vaccinated, unmasked, healthcare workers in attendance and was very disappointed in them.
I’m a huge live music fan, I’ve traveled in the past to concerts and festivals. But not now. I can’t bring myself to put myself at risk for a few hours of pure fun. It’s sad and thanks to the idiots who can’t be bothered to mask or vaccinate we’ve all lost something.
Fall Out Boy canceled several upcoming shows bc one of their team tested positive.
I’m just happy how serious Fat Joe took his mask wearing at the Verzuz in the Garden. It set a good example
Same with Counting Crows
Stevie Nicks just canceled all her shows for the rest of 2021 (she was headlining some festivals and the like, not actually touring.)
I am not ready for live music in a big crowd yet. It gives me a feeling of anxiety.
I’m tracking covid levels every day over here like it’s spring 2020. My kids are going back to school in 6 days and the Texas governor has a death wish. School board is not putting up a fuss. My 5 year old and 7 year old will be showing up in little kid KN94 masks and we are praying for the vaccine to come soon. This surge is BAD.
I’m in the exact same predicament (same age of kids too!) I am furious at Abbott, Trump, Cruz, all of them.
I am thanking God the adults in my family are all vaxxed and being careful, at least I haven’t had to deal with people refusing to do their part.
I’m heartbroken over the kids in red areas who are going to get sick. I know at least half of my kids school is going to mask up. I can’t imagine being in a Freedumb area. I have read that they think most Delta kids cases are adult to kid transmission, that gives me some hope for my school. I grieve for the idea that people protect their kids over ideology.
Hi fellow Texan! I just plugged my zip code into that link and we’re a 75 “critical risk” which… DUH. Most folks have abandoned masking in Tarrant county and it’s driving me batty. My social circle – which was VERY compliant early in the pandemic – is starting to fall apart. Even those who were being most cautious are over masking and are still planning social gatherings. I’ve told everyone that I’m in lockdown again, and to please not invite me to any events for the month of August.
Hi friends. Same boat and feeling like the governor not only stole the paddle, he set the dang boat on fire for fun. I’ve been contemplating how to transfuse some of my blood into my 5 and 8yos. I’m so worried.
As a teacher I am extremely concerned and nervous about current outbreaks and spread before we return to work. Especially as cases in 29 and under are increasing as as ICU/hospital. I currently work as a Covid tracker in Canada and I am debating even returning to work as a teacher because honestly it’s not good and our vaccination rates are higher then the states.
Same, teach at a college in NJ. The students are required to be vaccinated and masked but I am still thinking about getting a medical exemption and putting my classes online. I hate teaching online, I don’t WANT to teach online again, I miss seeing them in person, but I have begun to think that maybe it is just too risky. I know the students will not be taking precautions outside of class. . .
One of my nephews refuses to get vaccinated. He and his brother flew across country a couple of weeks ago to go to a big music festival. I just …
I have a niece and a nephew who refuse to as well. It’s so difficult. They’re brainwashed by my idiot brother of course. I have tried and tried and tried and I get nowhere.
We just found out that my husband’s cousin is not vaccinated, she’s 21, finishing up cosmetology school bc she wants to be a hair stylist (i.e. lots of interaction with other people) and she’s high risk due to other health issues. Her parents are both vaccinated and her younger siblings are as well, she’s just refusing. I am not sure what the issue is besides “I don’t trust it.” But I’m worried because COVID would be really bad for her, not even getting into how her decision impacts others.
My future in-laws refuse to be vaccinated. It’s extremely frustrating, especially since all signs point to COVID becoming an endemic virus that we’ll have to live with for decades to come.
Those pictures are blindingly white and it really jumps at me. Maybe being in NY I am not used to that. I can’t imagine any crowded event here that would be so white. Well, other than a Bernie Sanders rally.
@Darla, I noticed that too. And the predominance of American flag themed items. I wonder if that was the color scheme of the festival or if the attendees are freedumb fighters feeling their oats.
These were both country music festivals, so that might account for it. I don’t know about “predominance of American flags” – I looked at images from the festivals and the crowds were huge and packed together, but only a few flags. Maybe they’re the ones who got their photos taken.
And we know those numbers from those shows because they were in states or venues that conduct contact tracing. One of the worst decisions of the former guy’s disastrous handling of this nightmare was the refusal to conduct contact tracing on the federal level from the start. That failure allowed the virus to enter and spread unabated. States were on their own to conduct tracing.
ICU’s in Durham, NC are getting filled with Covid patients. The doctors and nurses are BEYOND weary. My big fear is for kids, who ca’t yet be vaccinated.
I’m fully vaccinated and I bought tickets to a small indoor concert in october, some while ago when we were still hopeful for the summer LOL. Guess those’ll go straight into the wastebin.
My friend bought us tickets for something right before Halloween. Indoors. Ugh.
I went to a few outdoor concerts, back before the new variant really took off here. They were fairly small and everyone was seated at spaced apart tables, so it felt fairly safe. I’m really glad I got those in before things went to shit again, because I don’t think I’d go now.
We have a local outbreak here among teens, and still have a couple moronic parents fighting masks in school. I just want to scream at these stupid, selfish people.
This is why I still haven’t done much of anything indoors/outdoors with a crowd. And why I still wear a mask and why my kids still wear masks everywhere. They will be back to school in a week and mine are wearing masks.
It is beyond me why people don’t take this seriously. I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want my kids to get sick, I don’t want to be the cause of someone else getting sick. This virus is still here and each variant seems to be worse.
I bought tickets to a few outdoor concerts in my neck of the woods for this summer, back in the spring when the vaccine rolled out and we were hopeful. Sadly, Ticketmaster keeps your money regardless these days, even if shows are cancelled or moved to next year. As if their fees aren’t high enough.
I don’t think going on a picnic is a big deal. But who the hell thinks it is a good idea to go to a concert now? Indoors or Outdoors, it is a tightly pack CROWD.
I work with a newborn, so I still live like I am in lockdown, for the most part.
I understand people’s frustration and impatience to get back to normalcy, but come ON. It is not happening yet.
You’d think those pics were taken before the pandemic. People are f*cking stupid and selfish. I guess they want this pandemic to last forever ? Good job idiots.
No sh*t captain obvious. Watch that 4th wave coming in like a tsunami. People dying from covid is always hard, but when it’ll hit the unvaccinated young adults, the teens, the kids, the toddlers, the babies, we won’t have enough tears to cry for them.
It’s already hitting them and people don’t care. An unvaccinated teen died near where I live last week and it was barely a blip in the news.
Yesterday they cancelled the October New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (that usually takes place in the spring).
I am crushed- it is my favorite event.
but it was 100% the right decision.
If only people had gotten vaccinated, it might be a possibility.
But it is not.
I think these concerts were a bad idea this year, just like Obama’s birthday bash. Read the room people.
I know someone who’s not vaccinated who went to an outdoor concert at Coney Island in NY, it was posted to social media. They weren’t wearing a mask and barely anyone else in the crowd was, no distancing. I shook my head and kept scrolling.
I have friends in the U.S. who have already attended *several* concerts and plan to attend more until the end of August. They’re in some of the worst areas and are travelling between cities. They’re all vaccinated and most have been exceedingly cautious all year, but I can’t help but think that they’re taking some big risks.
At the same time, I wonder when all this will be over, but I think the answer is when people stop doing stuff like this. I know we’re all tired of being cooped up at home, but for fuck’s sake, think of others. I used to always be at the movies or at a concert; I haven’t done any of those things in over a year. All of my upcoming events were cancelled in 2020. You just have to wait. Sorry to have to say it, but some Americans are just big babies.
Guys I went to a concert at Fenway last week and I only wore a mask inside the ladies room where there was no ventilation. I wasn’t going to post this but I can’t hide either. I am vaxxed, I wear a mask in every store, even if it is for 5 mins., I don’t want to send my kids back to school unless every person in the school is wearing a mask and I went to an outdoor concert in a highly vaxxed area – maskless 😢
They shows are falling apart now, with band members and crew getting COVID. We are done- the bands insurance companies aren’t going to let this go on, right? They wouldn’t let them perform in a lightening storm, they won’t let them perform in a Delta variant wave?
Same. I was at the Foo Fighters concert at MSG in June. Fully vaccinated crowd, but almost no one was wearing masks. It was also before the Delta variant really took off. I don’t know that I’d make the same choice right now.
I have grounds passes for the first round of the US Open, in September. As of now, we will still be going. It’s outside and we can choose to stay on the outer courts where there will be far fewer spectators and a lot more space available than if were go watch Serena or Naomi on Armstrong.
My 17 year old, about to be a high school senior, is fully vaccinated. Their school has announced that all faculty/staff and all students old enough to be vaccinated must be fully vaccinated before they will be allowed in the building. Everyone will also have to wear a mask while in the building. It’s a private, K-12 school. The last report was that 95% of the faculty/staff was vaccinated. It makes me feel a lot better about sending my kid there.
So… @ElleE I’m confused. You don’t want your kids going back to school unless everyone is wearing a mask but you went to a concert and didn’t wear a mask…?
Garth Brooks just played an outdoor concert at Arrowhead in KC. Masks were only required in indoor spaces. 70k attendees. Lower levels were packed in.
So disappointed in Garth for not canceling.
He said that if it turned out to be a super-spreader event, he would rethink the rest of the tour. I don’t know why he needs to take a wait-and-see approach when he knows damn well what is going to happen. I appreciate his cautiousness, and I know things change daily, but I think he knows what he has to do here. No need to put everyone at risk.
It’s not like Garth fucking Brooks needs money so just cancel the damn tour. Maybe do a tv special if you feel the need to perform. Sell it to a streaming service.
Darwin isn’t working fast enough for me.
That part
I think such events should be vaccinated people only. For those who cannot get vaccinated there should be a doctor’s note and a negative PCR test. Same goes for nightclubs. Oh and indoors masks only. Actually this rule should apply to all daily life fun activities – going to the movies, going to any sort of amusement parks, museums, restaurants, bars…
But no one is checking properly at the gate. That’s the problem. It’s a country-wide shit show because no one will enforce it for themselves let alone do their job to enforce for others.