Boardmasters Festival - superspreader event!

[ineedaholidaynow]

Did anyone go to this festival and not come down with COVID! Every local youngster who went to it seems to have contracted COVID, and I see it keeps getting mentioned on MN, and all posters can't be referring to the same youngsters.

Have other festivals been the same?

DD came back from Boardmasters with Covid, along with 3 of her friends. The friends who didn't catch it had already caught covid a few weeks earlier...

DD was sure she'd catch it so was very good at isolating in her bedroom and only meeting us in the garden. So far, DH and I are still testing negative.

I'm not sure why the positive tests have peaked in Cornwall though, people travelled to Boardmasters from all over the place and presumably had their positive test back in their home counties, rather than in Cornwall?

I'm sure lots of locals went too, but not all the cases were local

Big group I know went to Boardmasters from the NW. Three came back with covid symptoms -all double jabbed because of their part time jobs and one had already had covid.

Their parents made them go for PCR tests and they were all negative. They definitely picked up some sort of normal virus while there though!

@HipHopBanzai

Big group I know went to Boardmasters from the NW. Three came back with covid symptoms -all double jabbed because of their part time jobs and one had already had covid.

Their parents made them go for PCR tests and they were all negative. They definitely picked up some sort of normal virus while there though!

my ds did come bakc with Covid, but he and all his friends have also been passing round some rotten viruses this summer, bad throats, coughs, very heavy sumnmer colds. Been tested mutiple times and it wasn't Covid. They all came back from broadmasters with those anyway and THEN went down with Covid.

I think some of the normal viruses are hitting quite hard as we haven't been exposed to them for 18 months.

I do understand the concerns round the CEV adults and kids I really do.

But life does have to go on.
Personally I would rather they caught it over the summer, than once schools go back.

There is some evidence that the best immunity comes from a combination of double vax plus having had it. That gives my ds who is heading off to uni in Sept a really good chance of not getting it while at uni.

And interestignly, ds has been good at isolating since he returned. None of the rest of us have got it, and none of us are self isolating as per current guidelines.
dd1 works in a shop, so she is lateral flow testing every morning until ds is past the 10 days.
We have friends coming for a BBQ today, so we are all going to do lateral flow tests before they come, and stay outside (ds in his room)

To me, this is what life will look like for the foreseeable future.
We have to adapt.

3 people from my husband's work went. All 3 tested positive after

I know nine kids who went to Boardmasters and all came back positive.

@cantkeepawayforever

Unfortunately, for 18 year olds about to go off to university, infection at Boardmasters or this coming weekend will delay their second vaccination, meaning that many will arrive at uni only partially protected and also still having to isolate for close contacts....

Very glad that DD didn’t go, and has just had her second vaccination.

Yes that's a good point. I think I am going to lock ds into his room until his second dose on 5th September to make sure he can have it

Fortunately festivals aren't his thing.

I went and had a freaking awesome time watching my favourite band, the Gorillaz, pac'd like sardines, screaming and pogoing with all the jazz required to make up for the dullness of 2019-2021.

Didn't catch anything. Reminds me of Bill Hicks "good news" bit.

Toilets were grim though. I peed in a bottle instead.

I know of someone who is double jabbed and had the virus, and after all that, caught it again.

We are in for one hell of a winter.

Stupid to let events like this happen.

Interesting that it seems to be more than 10% of the responses saying that they know of positive cases. So wonder if it will be actually more than 10% of the festival goers who will come down with COVID

@ineedaholidaynow

Interesting that it seems to be more than 10% of the responses saying that they know of positive cases. So wonder if it will be actually more than 10% of the festival goers who will come down with COVID

No because not everything on Mumsnet is true!

@NannyAndJohn

My main concern is that they'll have passed it on to so many others via the use of public transport, and will have also passed it on to their younger siblings just as schools are about to go back.

It's going to be carnage.

Life must so grim when all you do is look for the worst, or rather you positively relish the prospect of it. Very odd behaviour.

Honestly, I am reading this with open mouth, Watapalava clearly has no idea how bad the infrastructure is in Cornwall, it's on it's starting on a good day, let alone with the tourist influx and a super spreading event.

I do think those who baste Nanny for her negativity must actually have little to lose or fear, if your foot was in the shoe of someone vulnerable you may well have a very different outlook...

I think some see hospital and think of a fully equipped hospital like you get in cities. Many of the hospitals in Cornwall and Devon aren’t much more than cottage hospitals and certainly won’t have ICU beds! And many of these have been closed down so there is even more pressure on the remaining hospitals

@Catma2021

I know of someone who is double jabbed and had the virus, and after all that, caught it again.

We are in for one hell of a winter.

Stupid to let events like this happen.

Cancel festivals?

For what end?

We all know now that Covid cannot be eradicated. We delayed the spread as much as possible for a long time and have managed to vaccinate a huge number of people. I don’t believe there is anything else we can realistically do.

OP - we have a 'fully equipped' (whatever that means) hospital in Cornwall which takes the covid cases needing hospital treatment including ICU. Cases are rising at the moment but we do have a lot of people in the county.
. The good news is that our hospital has not been overwhelmed. In connection to a previous poster - the problem with 'Nanny' is that he/she posts misinformation - not to help others but to simply raise his/her own profile.

@AlecTrevelyan006

Learning to live with Covid doesn’t have to mean letting it rip unmitigated. There is a middle way in which we can have 80% of our pre-covid lives back AND protect the vulnerable by keeping mask mandates, not holding mass superspreader events like this one etc. This would not be forever, just a few years. It’s what most other countries are planning.

And where does the money come from?

And we are not ‘letting it rip’ without mitigation. The vaccines are the mitigation.

My friend's DS went and caught Covid. He's been single vaccinated.
I was listening to Radio 2 earlier about Boardmasters and it sounds as if hygiene/Covid controls could have been better managed by the organisers (yes, I know festivals are grim by nature - I'm still getting over the "loo's" at the Stone Rose's gig at Finsbury Park!)
Seemingly, the loo's weren't cleaned and there were very few santising/handwash facilities?
I also think the crux/answer might be to lateral flow test on entry, as part of the price of the ticket and not at extra cost. Seems like you could tick negative test, without needing to show proof of anything?
And let's face it, festival goers who have saved up for ages for an expensive ticket might be tempted either not to test or not to declare the true outcome, especially if they didn't have insurance against losing the money.
I personally feel festivals should go ahead, but with effective controls in place.

[quote IndigoC]@AlecTrevelyan006

Learning to live with Covid doesn’t have to mean letting it rip unmitigated. There is a middle way in which we can have 80% of our pre-covid lives back AND protect the vulnerable by keeping mask mandates, not holding mass superspreader events like this one etc. This would not be forever, just a few years. It’s what most other countries are planning.[/quote]
What county has said they are 'planning' to keep 'mask mandates' and ban 'mass superspreader events' for a few years? Can you name them?

And speaking of banning, can we ban the expression 'let it rip'? Unless it's a fart thread?

The good news is that our hospital has not been overwhelmed.

Apart from the fact Treliske last week were saying they are the busiest they have ever been and "it's like New Year every day".

@AlecTrevelyan006

And we are not ‘letting it rip’ without mitigation. The vaccines are the mitigation.

The vaccines are on the verge of not being mitigating enough.

Thats like saying you can speed as long as you wear a seat belt. Or avoid the seat belt as long as you don't speed. Both are needed to make the bigger impact.

Ok so we’ll cancel festivals for the next couple of years… and at as well add in all other live music events, spectator sports etc and stick everyone back in furlough.

Brilliant.