Healthcare Expert Predicts Concerts and Festivals Will Not Return Until Fall 2021
Concerts and festivals may not return until next year
American healthcare expert Zeke Emanuel predicts that festivals and concerts will likely not return until fall 2019. This is due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Zeke Emanuel is a bioethicist and professor of healthcare management specialist. He participated in a recent roundtable discussion, hosted by the New York Times. During the discussion, Zeke Emanuel stated that he has “no idea” how promoters that are rescheduling arts and music events for later this year “think that’s a plausible possibility.”
In the video conference, Emmanuel stated the following:
Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return.
Realistically we’re talking fall 2021 at the earliest.
Postponed/cancelled events in 2020
Several music festivals around the world, including BST Hyde Park, Glastonbury and Governor’s Ball, have canceled their 2020 events.
However, many festivals have postponed the events until later in the year. These include Coachella, which pushed its April events to October, the South American editions of Lollapalooza, J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival, Live at Leeds Festival, EDC Las Vegas, and many others
While discussing re-opening the American economy as a whole within the next few months, Emanuel was not “wildly optimistic” for several reasons. For one, the United States lacks a consistent, nationwide shelter-in-place policy. Secondly, the country hasn’t introduced quicker COVID-19 testing practices yet.
Zeke Emanuel explains
Restarting the economy has to be done in stages, and it does have to start with more physical distancing at a worksite that allows people who are at lower risk to come back.
“Certain kinds of construction, or manufacturing or offices, in which you can maintain six-foot distances are more reasonable to start sooner.
Concerts and festivals often bring thousands of people from around the world to a single location. Large public gatherings like these are likely to be the last to return.
