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Original poster

Boardmasters Festival - superspreader event!

305 replies

ineedaholidaynow · 23/08/2021 10:51

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?

OP posts:
marieantoinehairnet · 24/08/2021 14:08

@PhilCornwall1

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".

This is it, the icing on the cake is tourism, which overloads the system on a normal year but this year is something else.

Then you hung a cherry on top, a super spreader festival!

Porcupineintherough · 24/08/2021 14:13

It's not great but either they get it now, or they get it in the first few weeks of term in September. Or we lockdown for another year and hope the situation changes. Letting it burn through the under 25s this summer seems the least bad option to me.

Tal45 · 24/08/2021 14:19

I had to laugh when I read an article on the BBC website about it,
the accompanying picture showed people sat demurely in front a stage all socially distanced in small groups of just a few people. I looked it up on google images as I couldn't believe that would lead to a 5000 strong outbreak and - no surprises - there's a picture of literally thousands of people all rammed in together cheek by jowl to watch Fools....I mean Foals.

People really seem to struggle with finding the middle ground on here. We don't 'need' 5 day 50,000 strong festivals, they're terrible for the locals who have to live with all the rubbish, noise, crowds, traffic etc and don't really help local business as they're only on for a very short time. There really are a lot of other ways to enjoy yourself. I'm just thankful my ds has no interest.

Bryonyshcmyony · 24/08/2021 14:24

I'd be gutted if my dcs had no interest in music festivals. And I'd have loved to have seen Foals.

Abraxan · 24/08/2021 14:28

@Bryonyshcmyony

Dd is coming back from Cornwall on Wednesday. According to her Insta stories she's been sitting in crowded bars every evening. She's double vaxed. What happens if she tests positive - do we all have to isolate - can't believe I don't know the answer to this!!
Depends on your vaccination status, rather than hers.

I

Abraxan · 24/08/2021 14:33

@overthethamesfromyou

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

Newquay already had the highest rates of covid before Boardmasters took place. This was included in a news report re covid across the country a few days ago.
Clearlyunhinged · 24/08/2021 14:38

This reply has been deleted

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Abraxan · 24/08/2021 14:39

I think Boardmasters was always going to be more of a risk than some other festivals. The demographic there is quite a bit younger. Many won't have been fully vaccinated. Dd was the only one of her friends to be fully jabbed, with more than 2 weeks after it.

The toilet situation in many of the areas was also dreadful, with no hand sanitisers around to use and many sinks unusable. Dd and her friends were in the accessibility camp so didn't have to deal with the issue - the ones there were fine. Having unsanitary toilet areas and no real means of hand washing will no doubt have led to an increase in the risk.

Dd is off to a Leeds Festival this week. Again, she and her friends are in the accessibility camp plus they have paid for VIP toilets/showers as well. This time Dd and most of her friends will have been fully vaccinated, though one of the is having the jab today - so not two weeks before she goes obviously.

The local festival Tramlines was hit with covid amongst the under 18s - all unvaccinated though due to age.

PrincessNutNuts · 24/08/2021 14:48

My lot didn't go to Boardmasters, but loads of their friends seem to have come back with some sort of illness, either covid, a stomach bug, or bad summer cold, or just a vague, headaches, out of sorts, have taken to their bed, kind of thing. I don't know if any of it is actually undiagnosed covid, or how much testing is happening.

steppemum · 24/08/2021 15:03

infection at Boardmasters or this coming weekend will delay their second vaccination

infection at Boadmasters won't.

Ds came back with Covid. He is now fine apart from cough, his isolation finishes at the weekend.
His second jab is booked for 15th September, the earliest he oculd get, which doesn't givehome 2 weeks after the jab before uni, but he always knew that.
He tested positive, but was ill for 48 hours, feeling a bit rough. The only lasting symptom is the annoying cough.
If he caught it again, well, so what? He is just as likely to get a cold/flu/norovirus. Illnesses do go round, and most people are fine.

cantkeepawayforever · 24/08/2021 15:09

infection at Boadmasters won't.

Plenty of DD's friends start in the first half of September (DS, for example, moved in on around 10th September of his first year a couple of years ago, and starts classes on the 15th even this year). With 28 days from positive test being the earliest possible date for a vaccination, it really is going to cause a problem while they either have to find and book a vaccination centre near to their new accommodation, or come back.

amicissimma · 24/08/2021 15:26

But if they've just had Covid there is less urgency for the second vaccination from an immunity point of view.

transformandriseup · 24/08/2021 15:30

Every person I know who was at Boardmasters has unfortunately caught COVID.

DH works in St Ives and he said business are temporary closing as so many staff have COVID. It is such a shame as many companies were on track to making up for lost business earlier in year.

cantkeepawayforever · 24/08/2021 15:40

@amicissimma

But if they've just had Covid there is less urgency for the second vaccination from an immunity point of view.
Yes, but if they are older that 18 and 3 months in September they still have to isolate as 18+ year olds who are not double vaccinated if they are close contacts with a positive case - whereas their double vaccinated peers will not. DD's university has asked as many as possible to get both vaccinations before they arrive so that while infection may still be an issue, isolations for contact don't have to interrupt their opportunities for f2f teaching and learning.
Abraxan · 24/08/2021 15:52

Yes, but if they are older that 18 and 3 months in September they still have to isolate as 18+ year olds who are not double vaccinated if they are close contacts with a positive case - whereas their double vaccinated peers will not.

It's 18y 6m, so a little bit more flexibility for some first year students.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

cantkeepawayforever · 24/08/2021 16:00

Ah, sorry about that. I'm not sure where I got the 3 months from.

wintertravel1980 · 24/08/2021 16:21

The good news is that SW is on the way down and it does not look like Boardmasters cases had significant spillover into other age groups. Of course, there was some secondary transmission but it was much lower than it could have been in pre-vaccination times.

toomuchlaundry · 24/08/2021 16:36

They have asked tourists to stay away from Cornwall now unless you are already booked somewhere

PaulGallico · 24/08/2021 16:50

'Treliske is like New Year every day' was a comment related to none urgent cases turning up at A&E - not Covid. I do not dispute we have a rise in cases, or that we are swamped with tourists or that boardmasters will result in infections.

PhilCornwall1 · 24/08/2021 16:59

@PaulGallico

'Treliske is like New Year every day' was a comment related to none urgent cases turning up at A&E - not Covid. I do not dispute we have a rise in cases, or that we are swamped with tourists or that boardmasters will result in infections.
It was, I raised this, as a poster had said the hospital isn't overwhelmed. Ok, maybe not with covid, but it's in the shit.
SquirryTheSquirrel · 24/08/2021 16:59

Quote from BBC article: 'Festivals were "core to the mental health of the younger generation" said virologist Dr David Strain'

Sorry, but that's bollocks. There are many people, me included, who have never been to a festival in their lives. It's this sort of fluffy thinking that has got us into the mess we are in.

Bryonyshcmyony · 24/08/2021 17:05

Bollocks to you maybe.

SquirryTheSquirrel · 24/08/2021 17:08

@Bryonyshcmyony

Bollocks to you maybe.
So you are saying that anyone who didn't go to a festival when they were young will have mental health problems?

Many people can't afford to swan off to festivals because they have to work in the holidays, let alone the cost of actually attending.

The statement I have quoted is typical middle-class bullshit coming from a bubble of privilege.

toomuchlaundry · 24/08/2021 17:09

If people solely rely on festivals for their mental health then maybe they need to start looking at other things in their life.

Bryonyshcmyony · 24/08/2021 17:14

@toomuchlaundry

If people solely rely on festivals for their mental health then maybe they need to start looking at other things in their life.
Of course they don't solely rely on them. But they give those who love them a huge boost. Some people really genuinely love human interaction, although you wouldn't think so if you were an alien reading mumsnet