The Lollapalooza Music Festival: How Safe was it with the Emergence of the Delta Strain and the Aftermath

Music festival Lollapalooza recently took place in Chicago at Grant Park which was attended by thousands of spectators. Concertgoers were mostly without masks in the pictures that came out of the festival between Wednesday and Sunday in densely packed crowds. The four-day festival saw a footfall of over 100,000 spectators each day.

The criteria for attending the festival was to show vaccination cards. People without full or partial vaccines were to show fresh negative test results within 72hrs of attending the festival. Other safety measures included wearing masks at all times. But experts question the extent of safety that was carried out at Lollapalooza and whether the concert will cause a subsequent outbreak. Dr. Jorge Parada, medical director of Loyola Medicine’s Infection Control Program said that is possible to contract and spread the virus even if the person is fully vaccinated. He said, “The more crowded the venue, the more likely they’ll happen.” Anna Bershteyn, assistant professor at New York University Grossman School of Medicine says, “At this point, for everybody, it’s really about balancing risk.”

The same circumstances unfolded in July during the Verknipt festival in the Netherlands. They issued similar safety protocols as Lollapalooza but over 1,000 people tested positive following the concert. Mercedes Carnethon, vice-chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine says that measures in public spaces are nothing but ‘hygiene theater’. They may give the appearance of safety protocols but do not reduce any risk. Carnethon says, “When your safety measures rely on the honesty of individuals, it’s a little tough to count on. I think the vast majority of people will try to do the right thing, but some will not.”

New evidence that vaccinated people are also prone to infection and transmission especially of the delta variant also makes the situation more serious. Anna Bershteyn also added, “Even though [a vaccinated person] might not get sick, you might be part of a transmission chain that could make somebody else quite sick.”

Experts say that music festivals see people from outer states and countries as well. Although Chicago was steady with its vaccination rate, the festival was too much of a risk at this moment. Experts also share safety measures like vaccination, masks, sanitizations, and social distancing if someone were to attend a festival. Also, following that, all attendees must monitor for symptoms in the next 10-14 days and take necessary actions of diagnosis, treatment, and reaching out to everyone attending the festival if they emerge as positive cases of contraction.