2 Covid cases shut down US festival after opening weekend

2 Covid cases shut down US festival after opening weekend

News

norman lebrecht

August 08, 2021

The Lakes Area Music Festival has called off the remainder of its season after two positive Covid tests.

The festival should have lasted four weeks with 11 orchestral performances, 9 smaller concerts and 1 staged opera, The Rakes’ Progress.

Music director Christian Reif is gutted that two years of planning have gone to waste.

Comments

  • just saying says:

    Too bad they couldn’t just have continued the festival without the two artists–surely they could have substitute artists/standbys who could have came in? Professional sports are events are able to continue even with positive cases (we just finished an Olympics!), I wonder why this couldn’t continue on.

  • It seems premature to be scheduling multi-week festivals with the expectation that you could get through it with no one involved catching COVID.

    If two people testing for COVID was enough to cancel the remaining festival, then the already-obvious reality that COVID is still burning through the population would be enough reason to postpone the festival until the realities are better.

  • Maria says:

    Sadly they should have planned for this. Whole company could now have Covid, and there’s no room for complacency, never more so if people not fully vaccinated.

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    Pathetic. Just utterly pathetic.

    • Anthony Sayer says:

      Encouraging to see that nine bedwetters have crept out from behind their sofas to downthumb this comment. Be careful, stay safe and get back there quickly. you never know…

  • Mick the Knife says:

    2 positive tests and they cancel? The madness.

  • CDC says:

    At some point people will have to learn the difference between cases growing and severe outcomes. Get vaccinated, get used to case surges, get on with your antibodied, protected life.

    Don’t cancel your festival for vaccinated young people getting asymptomatic and mild cases. Self-inflicted wound there.

    • Barry Guerrero says:

      You’re not the CDC, and you know full well that the truth of the situation is more complicated than your simplistic answer to it.

      • CDC says:

        In a vaccinated reality, the battle is mostly mental. Covid isn’t going anywhere. We’re all going to get it, but a rare vaccinated breakthrough experience will be something like a cold or flu and we will be ok (and further protected from being infected!)

        Every music festival is going to have Covid outbreaks for the rest of our lives. Only we might start calling it what we used to: there’s a bug going around.

        In order to get there faster, get your shots. I have very little tolerance left for those holding out based on Twitter and YouTube videos. Sure there are some people who can’t and those who we’ll never reach, but the evidence is all around us. Get vaccinated or roll the dice needlessly.

        And for anyone vaccinated thinking we’re going to eradicate Covid and they’re never going to get it so help them god: get real. Be as pro science as you think you are.

        The vaccines work very well, even against delta. If you’re vaccinated, live your life and run the risk of getting sick from time to time. Do it for concerts, for music festivals, for culture, for your own humanity. Reset your risk tolerance back to 2019 because with your antibodies, you are practically there.

        • Anthony Sayer says:

          Spot on.

        • Petros Linardos says:

          Resume your 2019 risk tolerance if you are also surrounded by people who are there.

          • CDC says:

            You see, this is the us vs. them thing that just makes everyone think and behave stupidly. If you’re around an unvaccinated person, they are the ones at much greater risk. If you’re vaccinated, don’t worry about it. You could get cold/flu symptoms if you’re particularly unlucky, but that seems pretty 2019 to me.

            If you can’t get vaccinated because of medical conditions, I’m sorry.

            If you’re unvaccinated, pull your head out of your rectum.

      • BigSir says:

        Hurry back to the womb, where you were safe!

  • Osterholm is God says:

    All music festivals needs to be cancelled and shut down until there is ZERO COVID!

    • Amos says:

      Don’t know if your comment and handle are intended as sarcasm but Dr. Osterholm is a first-rate epidemiologist who has been proven correct since the start of the pandemic and should be acknowledged for his efforts.

    • Anthony Sayer says:

      No; life must stop. Someone might get a runny nose.

  • JoshW says:

    It seems like there is more to this story than just two people testing positive. Of course, this is the same festival that advertises that it presents “the finest artists in the world” in a “world class concert hall.” In Brainerd, Minnesota . . . .

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