CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO/AP) — Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Lollapalooza was not the super-spreader event that some had predicted.
Dr. Alison Arwady said while they are still investigating, they’ve found a very small number of cases related to Lollapalooza: an estimated 203 people.
"We estimated that among vaccinated Lollapalooza attendees, 0.004 percent were diagnosed with COVID. That's four in 10,000 vaccinated attendees. Among unvaccinated attendees, we did as expected see a higher rate of COVID cases, but it was still low, 0.0016 percent, or 16 in 10,000 attendees," Dr. Arwady said.
She said those numbers were anticipated and not yet linked to any hospitalizations or deaths.
“Nothing unexpected here,” Dr. Allison Arwady said. “No sign of a ‘superspreader event’. But clearly with hundreds of thousands of people attending Lollapalooza we would expect to see some cases.”
The four-day music festival, which started two weeks ago, drew about 385,000 people to a lakefront park. Critics questioned holding the event during the pandemic. Footage showed tightly packed crowds at concerts and on public transportation with few masks in sight. Last year's festival was canceled because of COVID-19.
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But Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other officials have defended the decision, saying there were safety protocols in place. Festival goers had to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test and city officials said about 90 percent were vaccinated.
Dr. Arwady said a survey of those at Lollapalooza found that attending was an incentive to get vaccinated.
She said other music festivals around the country are following Chicago’s lead, requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test.
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Additionally, Arwady added that the number of positive cases included those who tested positive after or during Lollapalooza, which could include people who might have arrived already infected. For instance, 13 Chicago residents who tested positive reportedly attended Lollapalooza on or after the day their symptoms began.
And while the city is still investigating cases, Dr. Arwady did not expect it to make a major impact on COVID-19 infection rates.
“We would have seen a surge if we were going to see a surge at this point,” she said.
Among those who tested positive, city officials said 138 were Illinois residents from outside Chicago, 58 were from the city and seven were from out of state. Nearly 80 percent of those who tested positive were under 30, and about 62 percent were white, Arwady said.
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