Covid Superspreader at Lollapalooza 2021

Last weekend at Lollapalooza, a concert event in Chicago, turned out to carry much more of a crowd than was expected. With over 385,000 in attendance, the crowded guests tightened together to watch their favorite performances live. However, doctors and experts both agree that the amount of people in attendance, as well as the risk of spreading and contracting the virus, is the perfect recipe for another super spreader event. With Covid-19 still on the rise with different variants, all posing dangers, and risks to the public, this event was the perfect spot for the contagion to be spread but the amount of people gathered together is cause for alarm according to experts.

Guests at Lollapalooza were confirmed to be vaccinated at a 90% rate, however, there is still a large risk due to a large number of people as well as the risk of carrying the virus even if one has not contracted it.

With the Delta variant still on the rise throughout the country, the dangers of such a large crowd all packed together in close proximity in such an open-air environment is still alarming. Doctors advise Covid-19 testing to verify that the guest in attendance did not contract the virus despite the large number of people who showed proof of vaccination. The risk of spreading the virus, if not contracted, is still a large risk to the public not only in Chicago but nationwide.

While experts advise that events keep their gatherings to a small number of guests, there is still pushback from the public to return events back to normal. The conflict between the public’s desire to rejoin the public and crowded events without worrying about Covid-19 comes into contrast with doctors’ and experts’ desire to keep the public safe and healthy.