Concertgoers have a busy schedule ahead of them in the coming weeks.
BottleRock Napa Valley is coming back Labor Day weekend and Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is returning to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park over Halloween weekend, and they aren’t the only ones. Several others are on the roster as well, despite the increasing challenges posed by surging cases of the delta variant.
Although the risk of outdoor transmission is far lower than inside, but the high infection rate is creating doubts amongst health officials, particularly with recent outbreaks at other major festivals and events, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chroncle.
In the Bay Area, festival officials are at least requiring proof of vaccination or negative tests and recommending mask usage. But it may not be enough.
"We haven’t seen anything like delta before," said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor specializing in infectious diseases at UCSF.
"Do what you know is safe," said Michael Stanton, a professor of public health at California State University East Bay who attended several of the smaller-scale outdoor concerts at San Francisco’s Stern Grove over the summer.
And it shouldn’t mean skipping out altogether. Just try to keep distant from other festival goers and avoid indoor areas. The pandemic is taking a toll on people’s collective mental health, Stanton said, and it’s important to have reasons to come together as long as it is safe.
"There’s a tendency in the Bay Area, where people are taking COVID seriously, to sacrifice or reduce social time with others," he said. "As much as there is good intention in there, we need to be careful because keeping up with others is important for our mental health."
At BottleRock this weekend, festival officials are recommending but not requiring that people wear masks at all times. The event will use touchless wristbands for cashless transactions throughout the festival grounds.
Outside Lands organizers said they will also require proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend this year’s three-day concert.
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