Lollapalooza Is “A Recipe for Disaster” – Spike in COVID-19 Infections Expected in Two Weeks

Lollapalooza ran through Sunday, August 1, at Chicago’s Grant Park.

Heading into Chicago’s Lollapalooza weekend, concertgoers eagerly awaited their favorite artists as infectious disease experts braced for a spike in COVID-19 infections they expect to hit the week after, infectious disease experts said. experts Dr. Tina Tan and Dr. Robert Murphy.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” said Tan, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

“People are coming from all over the US, and while the organizers are making some effort to reduce infections, I’m not sure how they’re going to enforce mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing. Not to mention some people who bring their younger children under 12 who can’t be vaccinated, and some of those parents aren’t vaccinated themselves.”

‘It’s getting out of hand’

“The numbers are going up,” said Murphy, executive director of Northwestern’s Institute for Global Health. “If the number of cases increases, within two to three weeks, hospital admissions will increase. Then the IC admissions rise, and then the death rate rises. It’s getting out of hand.

“The organizers have set a vaccine requirement or a negative COVID test that is no more than 72 hours old, this all helps, but it’s just not enough when you’re in the middle of a pandemic.

“We are not even in the middle of this pandemic yet. This will go on wave after wave until we all get immunity or are vaccinated or both.”

‘Voluntary system didn’t work’

Murphy said the current spike in COVID cases nationwide is due to a lack of vaccinations, including younger people eligible to receive the vaccines.

“This current wave is because, for the first time, a single group of people refused to be vaccinated,” Murphy said. “While vaccines are effective, safe, available and free, they have declined. On May 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed their guidelines and recommended that vaccinated individuals no longer need masks indoors or outdoors, while unvaccinated individuals should continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing from others. The CDC’s recommendation was voluntary and it didn’t work because many of the unvaccinated people cheated by not wearing masks or practicing social distancing; this is what really drives infection rates up in the first place.”

“We tried the carrot approach. Now we have to use the stick approach.”
— Dr. Robert Murphy, infectious disease expert

“The voluntary system didn’t work. This will lead to mandatory vaccinations for work, school, travel, social events and other public and private occasions. We tried the carrot approach, now we have to use the stick approach.”

keep hope

“If everyone who goes to Lollapalooza is vaccinated or has a negative test, the numbers will continue to be lower,” Murphy said. “And I hope that happens. It may even have resulted in many younger people getting vaccinated in order to come.”