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?

The statement I have quoted is typical middle-class bullshit coming from a bubble of privilege festival goers aren't all middle class OK maybe boardmasters

It is very difficult, because we are essentially having to play off the different things that help / boost / cheer / employ different people against one another. It is very human to want the 'more risky' things that we want to be allowed, and to want the 'more risky' things that other people want to be restricted - but in reality the compromises are much more difficult than that.

It is particularly complicated because everyone is interconnected by webs of potential transmission, so it isn't possible to say 'you do what you want to do, I will do what i want to do, and we will not have an effect on each other'.

I genuinely don't think there is a 'right' answer about what 'ought to be allowed' and what 'ought not to be allowed'. i do, however, think that there is potentially a lot more scope for well-enforced legal mitigations in all risky environments (lots of people, close contact, many unvaccinated and/or many vulnerable) - so in addition to in medical settings (gathering of the vulnerable with close contact) and transport (lots of people, close contact) there could be much better legally-enforced mitigations for mass events (from football through festivals to classical concerts) and those involving mass gatherings of the unvaccinated (schools).

@Bryonyshcmyony

The statement I have quoted is typical middle-class bullshit coming from a bubble of privilege festival goers aren't all middle class OK maybe boardmasters

I agree they won't all be middle-class but the assumption that everyone can afford to go to a festival and it's an essential mental-health provision, is a privileged one.

A quick google suggests Boardmasters tickets are about £200. Then you've got the cost of getting there, unless you're local, and food etc. while you're there. Accommodation, or buying a tent. And all that assumes that you are either not working, or you're lucky enough to be able to get annual leave at peak holiday times (unlikely in a lot of min wage or student temporary jobs).

There's absolutely no way I'd have been able to afford that sort of outlay before the age of about 30.

@Bryonyshcmyony

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

My teen has no interest in music festivals. It's not the end of the world FFS.

@Watapalava

Honestly why are people arsed? They’re all likely fine

556,000 live in Cornwall and there are 30 people in hospital with covid

30!

There are under 6000 in whole of uk in hospital with covid - there are 2000 uk hospitals so say an avaerve of 3 per uk hospital

Plus almost 1000 are being admitted per day suggesting people stay a day or two at most and then get discharged or numbers would be sky high at that daily rate and they’re not

Exactly this ^^

What’s the problem! Likely to feel unwell for a week or so then get over it

Of course it wouldn't be the end of the world. But I used to like them as did dh so they are in the blood. They've certainly cheered my dcs up this summer so I'm very grateful. None of them caught covid.

Dd knows about 25 people who went. Over 20 got Covid at the festival. Family friends - son went, caught Covid, passed it to both parents.

Even though 30 people in hospital is 30 too many, think of the impact on local businesses of the number of people who have had to self-isolate.

@newnortherner111, and the impact on healthcare staff too, who still have to isolate if they are a close contact.

There is no point having intensive care beds without staff to nurse in intensive care.

The main argument though I suppose is about the fact the Cornwall only has one major hospital and that local services cannot cope when tourists come for the summer - at the best of times - and that this summer is the worst it’s been. COVID has added to the situation but it is was a big problem already.

[quote Frazzledazzles]@newnortherner111, and the impact on healthcare staff too, who still have to isolate if they are a close contact.

There is no point having intensive care beds without staff to nurse in intensive care.

The main argument though I suppose is about the fact the Cornwall only has one major hospital and that local services cannot cope when tourists come for the summer - at the best of times - and that this summer is the worst it’s been. COVID has added to the situation but it is was a big problem already.[/quote]
Well they need to build another hospital rather than moaning about tourists (that just happen to sustain their economy)

@CottageDwelling with what money?

With the same money every other NHS Trust uses to provide healthcare I expect.

i think people are over estimating the number affected by isolation and cases

Healthcare staff if vaccinated do not have to isolate if contact - given they were in priority group, id say most don't

"2.5 If a staff member is identified as a contact of a COVID-19 case
2.5.1 Exemptions from self-isolation if a staff member is fully vaccinated[footnote 1] and is identified as a contact of a case
From 16 August, staff members notified that they are a contact of a COVID-19 case are not required to self-isolate if they are fully vaccinated. They should inform their line manager or employer immediately if they are required to work in the 10 days following their last contact with a COVID-19 case"

Most people local wont be isolating given 77% adults are double vaccinated

Healthcare staff if vaccinated do not have to isolate if contact - given they were in priority group, id say most don't

IIRC - and I might be wrong - I think that in many cases the NHS and other healthcare employers are asking their employees who are household contacts of cases not to come into work, because of the risk to vulnerable people that they work with. I'll try to find a reference for that. All employers can set their own rules in line with their own risk assessment, as the employers retain a statutory duty to employees and all those who come into their premises under existing H&S law, and the relaxing of Covid guidance doesn't trump that.

This letter:

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/08/C1381-Updated-guidance-on-NHS-staff-and-student-self-isolation-return-to-work-following-COVID-contact.pdf sets it out really clearly:

• Non-household contacts can carry on working in NHS settings IF double vaccinated, PCR negative and negative on daily LFTs for 10 days.

• Household contacts are asked not to come to work unless specifically agreed by a senior decision maker

Yes care homes are also setting their own requirements. They are doing their upmost to prevent covid passing to residents so are advising staff not to come in if close contact.

Well that festival has caused bloody havoc in our local hospital- and means my dh’s long awaited bank holiday weekend off now won’t happen

For those saying “what’s the problem?” I will tell you the problem. Lots of dh’s colleagues teen kids went to that festival, they are all Doctors or nurses kids. Every bloody one of them came back with Covid! The isolation rule still applies to NHS staff. So guess who works yet another 12 day stretch?

@MissyB1

Well that festival has caused bloody havoc in our local hospital- and means my dh’s long awaited bank holiday weekend off now won’t happen

For those saying “what’s the problem?” I will tell you the problem. Lots of dh’s colleagues teen kids went to that festival, they are all Doctors or nurses kids. Every bloody one of them came back with Covid! The isolation rule still applies to NHS staff. So guess who works yet another 12 day stretch?

Well I'm sorry to hear that, but it didn't break any laws/rules, so noone should feel guilty.

@MissyB1

Well that festival has caused bloody havoc in our local hospital- and means my dh’s long awaited bank holiday weekend off now won’t happen

For those saying “what’s the problem?” I will tell you the problem. Lots of dh’s colleagues teen kids went to that festival, they are all Doctors or nurses kids. Every bloody one of them came back with Covid! The isolation rule still applies to NHS staff. So guess who works yet another 12 day stretch?

Doctors and nurses kids are allowed to have fun too.

So you acknowledge it did do harm to the NHS? Because it won’t have just been our hospital that was affected.
It’s one thing insisting kids are allowed fun but to insist it’s not caused any problem is just ignorant.

Yes it may have put strain on the NHS but fgs we've been beaten around the head with that guilty stick for 18 months.

It does bloody matter if they spread it to other public transport users and (potentially CEV) family members.

Not to mention Long Covid.

Aaaaah, of course long covid your favourite subject!

Presumably these people were at risk of dying if they caught other viruses/illnesses before covid?

It is sad of course but as I and countless others have said, covid is here to stay unfortunately and life must go on and that involves the risks people have to take every day.

@Bryonyshcmyony

Yes it may have put strain on the NHS but fgs we've been beaten around the head with that guilty stick for 18 months.

As I said upthread, this whole thing is a case of balancing benefits arnd harms, which it is really difficult to do.

It is not wrong to want teenagers to be able to have fun; nor is it wrong to want NHS staff to be able to take long-planned holiday rather than cover for isolating staff.

If we can't have both, are there mitigations that we can put in place that give a better chance of allowing both, possibly in slightly modified forms?

Yes train and employ more NHS staff. The whole system is almost not fit for purpose now anyway.

It's posters like @Watapalava who are saying people are over estimating the impact, when some people are living the reality of the impact and so don't need to overestimate it