Neil Young recently spoke in opposition to super-spreader concert events. He claims the concert promoters of these events are responsible for rising Covid cases and he thinks they should protect the people who are their livelihood.
Taken from his blog:
"They control much of the entertainment business. They hold the power to stop shows where thousands congregate and spread. It's money that keeps it going. Money that motivates the spreading. The big promoters are responsible for super spreaders," he wrote. "These giants of entertainment just renovated a lot of old venues and spent a lot of cash to do that. Now they can't stop selling tickets to pay for it. Money and business. That doesn't make this OK."
"Folks see concerts advertised and think it must be OK to go and mingle. It's not," he concluded. "These are super-spreader events, irresponsible Freedom Fests. We need Freedom to be safe. Not a bad example."
You can read Neil Young's entire blog on this subject here: https://neilyoungarchives.com/news/2/article?id=Viewpoint-Concerts-And-Covid
I fully agree with Neil Young. I have been wondering myself why these events are happening while the coronavirus delta variant is surging. I think any events held at large-scale venues of 10,000 or more people should not be happening. While I understand the concert industry has suffered for a year and a half, now is not the time to be bringing thousands of people together. My jaw dropped once I heard Lollapalooza wasn't being cancelled. Lollapalooza is one of the largest and most iconic music festivals in the world, with about 400,000 people in attendance.
The good news about Lollapalooza though is Chicago's top doctor, Dr. Allison Arwady, said there's "no evidence" Lollapalooza was a "super-spreader" event. She stated there were about 385,000 attendees, and roughly 90% were vaccinated. "If we were more than 90% vaccinated as a city, as a country, we would probably be done with COVID. If folks are going to large events, please get vaccinated. It helps reduce risk for everybody." Dr. Allison Arwady said.
No hospitalizations or deaths have been linked to the festival. Only 0.0004% of vaccinated attendees tested positive, and 0.0016% of unvaccinated attendees tested positive.
Link to Lollapalooza article: https://abc7chicago.com/covid-lollapalooza-outbreak-super-spreader/10946665/
What I am about to say is going to be pretty unpopular, but I think concert promoters should have socially distanced events until 2022-2023. The concert promoters would still be working though there would less ticket sells. For example. If you had a 20,000 capacity stadium, sell 5,000 tickets and spread your audience out. You could also make it vaccination only, or separate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated into different sections of the venue. Enforce a mask rule. Many venues have taken these measures to slow the spread. Some have demanded proof of vaccination or a negative covid-19 test for entry.
What about smaller scale venues like a theater of a 2,000 or less capacity? Make them socially distanced, vaccination only, have vaccinated/unvaccinated sections, and/or adopt a mask rule. That may sound extreme, but if these shows absolutely must go on and cannot wait until 2022-2023, then that should happen or else do not have them at all. Because so many are unvaccinated, this pandemic is becoming harder to control, and large gatherings could only impede our progress. Now, Lollapalooza had a very low infection rate despite the vast number of people who attended. However, some venues are allowing these gatherings to occur with no safety protocols in place.
I would love nothing more to go out and do something fun. But I'd rather not put myself and loved ones in danger by doing so. I have done nothing fun or exciting since covid took over the world in February 2020, and I haven't been to a concert since September 2019. I think I can wait at least six more months to partake in any recreational activities. In the meantime, I have been working on my children's books and cartoon t.v. series. A professional illustrator is working on my illustrations for my first book. I submitted my first illustration to the publisher tonight. If all goes well and they like my illustrations, I may very well receive an advance. I also purchased a brand new Wacom pen tablet, which I created one of my characters with. Looking forward to drawing more with my tablet!
The only downside to being at home so much is that I have developed quite a shopping addiction! lol. I scroll down my Facebook page and there are all these incredible deals that I take advantage of 95% of the time. And I cannot stay away from Amazon.com and Bathandbodyworks.com, which doesn't help either. But fall is my favorite season and I am seeing all of this fall stuff online. The fall items showed up online early this year. Is it because people are sitting at home bored and want to decorate, so the stores put their fall items out in July? Perhaps, who knows?
That sums up my thoughts on covid-19 and live shows. Until next time, I will continue to enjoy anything and everything pumpkin-flavored or scented and my hot chai tea lattes. c[_]
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