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Concerns Lollapalooza will be the 'super spreader of the summer'
As workers put the finishing touches on Lollapalooza, health officials and Jim Derogatis, Music journalist and critic, discuss the risks of attending.
CHICAGO - Streets were shutting down Monday ahead of Lollapalooza.
But while many are excited about the big festival, others are worried about it becoming a super-spreader event.
This comes as Chicago's COVID-19 case and positivity rates are on the rise.
The city's positivity rate is currently at 2.4 percent, up from 1.2 percent the week prior.
On Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is not having second thoughts on holding Lollapalooza, noting that to get into the festival you have to prove that you are vaccinated or have proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
She also noted that the festival is outside and says the danger of transmission is less outside than inside.
However, Dr. Emily Landon of the University of Chicago Medicine says with the city's case and positivity rates on the rise, and people planning to travel to the festival from other states, she feels holding Lollapalooza is a "terrible idea."
Landon says people are putting themselves at risk.
"Lollapalooza is going to be an exposure event for lots of people. Some people are going to walk away with COVID, that they didn't plan on getting. And a lot of people are going to go to Lollapalooza and not get COVID," Landon said. "The problem is that those people who walk away with COVID may not have really considered how many people might get COVID at Lollapalooza and then they could go on and start outbreaks in their communities."
In a statement, the event organizers of Lollapalooza said that they will have staff at the entry gates checking for printed vaccination and negative test documents as fans enter the festival. They also advise fans to build in extra time to allow for this additional entry requirement.
If fans arrive without documentation, they will be turned away.
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