So you wanna reopen concerts and clubs? Here’s what happened in South Korea.
A survey released this week on the public’s attitude towards going to concerts and festivals this week shows that we’re afraid. It’ll be some time before things get back to normal with the live music industry.
And with good reason. South Korea, a country that clamped down early and hard on the virus, relaxed lockdown restrictions only to see a big flare-up in cases of COVID-19.
Statista shows how a single 29-year-old infected dude went to a club and ended up potentially exposing more than 11,000 people to the disease.
As of Wednesday, 119 new infections can be traced back to this dude in the club. Another 5,517 people have been contacted, leading to 7,272 additional tests. As of today, 1,982 people contacted have yet to respond to requests to identify themselves. Why? Because the bars and clubs in this situation cater to gay people and South Korea isn’t exactly the most gay-friendly place on the planet. These people could be afraid to come forward.
Still want to re-open everything?
I wish I could say that changes my opinions on what I would (have?) considered mass hysteria by the public re concerts, and it probably does on some deep, much subdued , intellectual level. However, I struggle greatly with the enormous sense of loss at the future of my concert schedule . It’s the glue that holds me together. I feel a bit like the straw man from the wizard of Oz.
Realistically , I would be mortified at the thought that i , or someone else, would cause ill health or death to another human being .