Over 70 COVID cases linked to 12,000-person music festival, Oregon officials say
Oregon officials are investigating a COVID-19 outbreak linked to the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest held in July.
The state reported 66 coronavirus cases connected to the outdoor music event on July 10 and 43 of the cases are Umatilla County residents, according to Umatilla County Public Health Director Joseph Fiumara, KATU reported.
Five of the 66 cases were among vaccinated attendees.
“With delta, some of our assumptions with how safe an outdoor event was, probably aren’t as good as they were with the original version of this virus,” Fiumara said, according to the publication. “I do think it means it’s not as safe as what we were comfortable with.”
The Oregon Health Authority began investigating the outbreak more than a week ago after there was a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations following the event, East Oregonian reported.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” said event co-manager Doug Corey, according to the publication. “Hopefully everybody will improve and get well. It would be an interesting number to know how many were vaccinated and not vaccinated.”
The event, which was rescheduled to July 2021 due to the pandemic, met its target of 12,000 attendees, according to East Oregonian.
Festival organizers said that the event would “follow all recommended health and safety guidelines outlined by the CDC and local and state government and other health officials in order to facilitate a successful event.”
Oregon lifted the majority of its COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates and capacity limits, at the end of June, according to KPTV.
Photos from the festival showed attendees not wearing masks.
As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends “avoiding large events and gatherings.”
Oregon has reported more than 234,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,900 deaths as of Aug. 11 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Over 70 COVID cases linked to 12,000-person music festival, Oregon officials say."