As we get closer to the light of what seems to be a never-ending tunnel that is this pandemic, things are starting to inch back towards normal. While events are allowed again in some states and are weeks away from being allowed in others, festivals are the one thing that has not quite come back. Due to the large capacity and the fact that this pandemic is not quite over, many festivals that were slated for the spring or early summer postponed until the fall or pushed until 2022. That is, of course, except for EDC Vegas.
EDC Vegas is set to happen May 21-23, 2021. As the festival gets closer, people have been wondering and asking whether it is happening. A festival of that magnitude happening in a little over a month seems too much to hope for. Pasquale promised updates to come soon, and everyone has been waiting.
Today, we got some kind of an update. Insomniac proposed a plan to the Nevada Department of Business and Industry to make EDC Vegas happen this year. The plan includes requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for attendees, mask-wearing at the festival, and COVID-19 detection dogs.
COVID-19 detection dogs are something this writer had never heard of until now, but canines can apparently sniff out COVID-19 the way they can drugs. Used as an “additional line of defense,” the dogs would be used only if conclusive evidence was found that it is a legitimate way to detect COVID-19. As of now, there is only a suggestive study on it out that was published in February. The dogs would not be the end-all, be-all – if they did sniff anyone out, a COVID-19 would be administered and have to come back negative.
What was glaringly missing from the plan is any social distancing measures. No pods, no squares, no cars, no limited capacity. The festival that sees 200,000 people of the three-day weekend is going to let people do what they do as long as they wear masks and are negative before doing it. The outdoor nature of the event is cited as “low risk” for transmission.
Nevada Department of Business and Industry spokesperson Teri Williams confirmed that EDC submitted the plan to officials, but that the plan was not approved by the state. Williams said EDC organizers have yet to submit a revised proposal for consideration.
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