Almost 5,000 COVID-19 cases have been linked to the Boardmasters music and surfing event that happened in Cornwall this month, highlighting one of the highest surges of COVID cases in England.
The Cornwall Council reported on Monday that 4,700 people tested positive for coronavirus after attending the concert in Newquay between 11 and 15 August or by being in close contact with someone who did.
This has become the reason why Cornwall’s COVID-19 infection rate skyrocketed over the past few days, making it the fourth-highest in the UK.
“We are working with colleagues at Cornwall Council to monitor what impact the Boardmasters festival may have had on Covid case numbers, and we are starting to see cases reporting that they attended the event prior to developing symptoms or testing positive,” said Professor Mike Wade, Public Health England regional director for the South West.
“We will continue to monitor the data closely as we have throughout the pandemic,” he added.
He also warned Cornwall residents that “Covid has not gone away”, as he urged people not to attend events if they have Covid symptoms.
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Superspreader Events and COVID-19
Superspreading events are one of the major key drivers of the pandemic worldwide and the US is now preparing for the results of two of its own large festivals with the results increasing each week across the country.
The Sturgis motorcycle rally which ended only a few weeks ago is already responsible for the tripling of COVID-19 hospitalization in South Dakota.
The Lollapalooza in Chicago from July 29th to August 1st has reported over 200 cases that are potentially linked to the festival so far, but local health officials claim that enough time has elapsed to declare that the event was not a superspreader event.
Perhaps it is right to consider that large festivals with unmasked people closely crowded together is not the best idea with the highly transmissible Delta variant.