The massive six-day festival from September 1-5 will continue as planned, as it has always been since 1973, except during the hurricanes and the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. increase. Popular events typically attract about 250,000 people. But concert organizers didn’t think it was worth the risk, given the rise in monkeypox cases, especially among gays, bisexuals, transgenders, nonbinary men, and men who have sex with men. rice field.
Monkeypox is spread through close skin-to-skin contact. Although not a sexually transmitted disease, the majority of cases of this particular outbreak in the United States are due to skin-to-skin sexual contact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The concert takes place outdoors, but draws large crowds with well-known performers such as Deborah Cox, Jennifer Holliday and The Weather Girls.
Organizer Chuck Robinson described it as “hot, sweaty, people huddled on the street 21 blocks deep, people shirtless. Dance shoulder to shoulder. It’s what it’s supposed to be.” I’m here. [to] Celebrating a lifestyle through music and concerts is great, but dangerous for monkeypox,” Robinson told CNN.
Festival organizers said they are working closely with the Louisiana Department of Health. The New Orleans Department of Health held vaccine pop-up clinics near nightclubs and other venues.
As of Thursday, Louisiana had 127 monkeypox cases.
Despite the rising number of cases, the majority of LGBTQ events this summer have continued as normal.
A traveling party called Algeria Sunrise Summer Edition in New York in July was canceled due to the threat of monkeypox, according to the company’s website.
Anyone can get monkeypox, but recent outbreaks in the United States have mostly focused on gay bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary men, and men who have sex with men. It can be transmitted through close contact and can be spread through contaminated clothing and bedding.
“From what I’ve seen, 95 to 98 percent of the cases are not in public, but from close skin-to-skin sexual contact,” Hammer said.
“I think the risk[at the concert]is much lower,” Hammer said.
“If this is to be believed, I think the organizers should take this into account when making plans,” Hammer said.
Hammer said organizers would communicate with attendees in advance and encourage anyone with unusual lesions or who had contact with someone with monkeypox to stay home or make sure they are not contagious. We may recommend that you undergo at least an initial examination and evaluation to confirm make friends sick
“But I don’t think there’s really a significant risk if people are fully clothed or something like that,” he said.
“Most concerts probably won’t be a problem,” said Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, about how monkeypox spreads. A special event where people are partially clothed and run into each other is not a “non-zero risk”.
“In general, it’s important to distinguish between all the ways monkeypox can spread and what causes it,” Adalja said. “This is clearly a sex-related outbreak in the United States.”
“However, we have seen transmission through non-sexual contact. We will rub each other at the event.”
The decision to go or not to host an event depends more on people’s risk tolerance than anything else, he said.
“There is no formula that says this event has to be canceled for XY and Z. Rather, what is the risk of monkeypox spreading at such an event,” he said. .
He added that the country has learned a lot from how the Covid-19 pandemic was handled.
“Risk mitigation is much more effective than event cancellation or abstinence-only approaches,” Adalja said. “I think it’s important to be aware of the risks and have the tools in place. For example, we can make testing available, and if there are enough vaccines, we can make it a place to get vaccinated. But people I think it’s important to know that they know something about risk.”
On Thursday, the Biden administration said it would launch a program to make vaccines available at large LGBTQ events.
Organizers are having meetings with local health departments to discuss best monkeypox and Covid-19 strategies to keep people safe.
The festival is providing monkeypox and Covid-19 tests and vaccines at the event itself, and is working with the Fulton County Health Department to provide monkeypox vaccines prior to the festival.
Traxx Girls founder and festival organizer Melissa Scott said: Scott said the festival has an advantage because it has a large outdoor space where people can spread out as much as they want, depending on how intimate they want to be with others.
“Even if you’re a quarter mile away, you can still see what’s going on on the big screen,” says Scott.
Scott said the event was a much-needed weekend of celebration, especially during the pandemic when so many people had to quarantine. It is important.
“It’s important for us to get together. People need to socialize. We’re already using our phones too much,” Scott said. “It’s very important to have face-to-face contact again. It’s very important to celebrate.”
Source: www.cnn.com
