San Francisco’s Outdoor ‘Outside Lands’ Festival to Require Proof of Vaccination or Negative COVID Test

San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands music festival, held entirely outdoors in Golden Gate Park, will require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test to gain admission to the event over Halloween weekend.

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Datebook reported Wednesday:

Officials from Another Planet Entertainment, co-producers of the mega fest in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, outlined plans to safely bring the three-day concert back to city over Halloween weekend for the first time in more than two years, stating that in addition to the previously announced requirement that patrons must show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative coronavirus test for entry into the festival, they are taking measures to help mitigate traffic, safety and noise issues.

The festival, which typically takes place in August, is now set for Oct. 29-31, due to a series of pandemic-related delays. That means it starts on a school day and ends on Halloween, a holiday in which children and adults alike are known to gather in large groups.

The strict requirements are being imposed despite the fact that the risk of outdoor transmission of coronavirus is considered relatively small.

This past summer’s giant Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, which featured daily crowds in excess of 100,000, was associated with only 203 coronavirus cases, leading public health officials to conclude there had been no outbreak. Like Outside Lands, Lollapalooza required proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test; unvaccinated patrons had to wear masks.

Last year’s Outside Lands festival was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.