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Public health officials in England have urged festival-goers to exercise restraint over the public holiday weekend to avoid a stubbornly high Covid infection rate among young people, fueling a larger rise in cases.
More than half a million people are expected to descend on at least eight sites across the country for England’s biggest festival weekend of the year.
Meanwhile, infections among adolescents and young adults in England remain near their highest level throughout the pandemic and more than double the overall national rate. One in 30 young people in 16 to 24 years old was infected with Covid-19 in the week leading up to August 20, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The festivals, which include Leeds, Reading, Creamfields in Merseyside and All Points East in London, all require proof of vaccination or a recent negative lateral flow test result to enter, but most do not require social distancing or wearing masks.
However, public health officials have always called on participants to take extra precautions.
Susan Hopkins, Covid-19 Strategic Response Director at Public Health England, urged festival-goers to socialize as much as possible outdoors, test themselves regularly and wear a mask when traveling on public transport.
“It is especially important to be careful when you leave the festival and when you return home as you may have caught Covid-19 while you were away,” she added. “Try to avoid seeing older or more vulnerable relatives so as not to pass anything on.”
The ONS infection survey, which monitors both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, reported on Friday that one in 70 people in England was infected with Covid-19 during the week ending August 20 , compared to one in 80 the previous week.
During this time, the reproduction rate, or R-value, of the virus in England has increased slightly to between 1 and 1.1, which means that the epidemic is probably in a growth phase and that for every 10 people infected, they are likely to transmit it to between 10 and 11 others.
Meradin Peachey, director of public health for Berkshire West, who helped prepare for the Reading festival, admitted that “there will inevitably be some spread” of the virus among the more than 100,000 participants.
“We cannot prevent the spread of Covid because the rates are so high among young people, and most of the participants are 18 or under,” she told the Financial Times. “We rely on people who are sensible, honest and do the right thing.”
But Peachey stressed that admission rates to local hospitals remained low, adding that any increase in the number of cases should not result in people “really sick” because of the high vaccination coverage among the older groups.
However, Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician and member of the Independent Sage scientific advisory group, said a sharp rise in infections “is likely” to spread to older groups.
“Being outside in crowded groups, especially when singing, is not protection against the Delta variant, so we would expect to see some supercasting events,” she said. “If the spike is large enough to spread to older groups, then we could see an increase in hospital admissions among unvaccinated or vulnerable people. “
Iain Buchan, a professor of public health at the University of Liverpool who served as a principal investigator for the first stage of the government events research program, said festival organizers could do more to implement measures to hassle-free mitigation.
“It would be a good idea to introduce daily testing for all participants and easy access to refunds for those who are not feeling well and not making it to the event,” Buchan said. “These measures must become the norm. “
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