Attendees are asked to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at the entrance, but health officials still fear a surge in cases in the coming weeks as a result of the gathering.
Only 51.7 per cent of Chicago's residents are fully vaccinated - although on Thursday, organizers said, 90 per cent of those attending provided their vaccination certificates.The Illinois state health department reports that 58.6 percent of residents over 18 are fully vaccinated, and 74.3 percent have had their first shot'When you're having this many folks who are coming through almost certainly there will be some cases,' said Dr Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public HealthThe concert in Grant Park is one of the biggest since the pandemic began, with 100,000 people every dayDr Emily Landon, the executive medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medicine, said last Monday in an interview with NBC-5 Chicago that she thought the festival should have been cancelled.Â