www.ticketnews.com: Concert giants AEG Presents and Live Nation Entertainment have both announced that all fans looking to attend events in the U.S. will be required to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test beginning this fall, as the industry seeks to stay open amid the Delta variant-driven spike in cases. The policies fly in the face of laws and executive actions put in place by some Republican officials, such as in Florida and Texas, where requiring proof of vaccination in exchange for goods and services was made unlawful.
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What is so interesting about COVID 19 is how politized it has become. It’s an enemy to everyone, whether you are republican or democratic, so it's still hard to understand why parties have such a polarized view of policies on it. These companies are only trying to make sure that attendants are safe. Personally, it would make me want to attend something more if I knew they were taking the most precautions possible like required vaccinations. So I think that the claim “But for event organizers, the calculus seems simple: policies requiring vaccination or negative testing are more likely to keep events running with people in the seats rather than locked out…” is very accurate for many people who are staying cautious of covid but also wanting to support the arts. It's alarming that promoters even have to work harder just to find loopholes and keep people safe and healthy.
First the industry had to fight COVID shutting down its shows, but now it has to fight the government not letting promoters be safe about COVID as well. It seems kind of insane that, of all bodies, state governments don't want these large live events to be safe about a highly transmissible respiratory virus. One might think that the industry would have a rift and have in-fighting about what the right protocols are to keep shows performing, but it seems that both the 2 largest concert promoters are in unison about what to do: masks and vaccines. Using the verbage of the laws banning vaccine mandates is honestly very impressive, and it allows the show to go on while not getting shut down by the state. It's just crazy that this is even a fight that's happening between state governments and performing organizations, because one would think that the government of the people would want to protect its citizens.
the unknown comment is me, Ethan Johnson
It’s very alarming that companies even have to find loopholes around laws like these. We’ve been fighting this pandemic for so long, we finally have a vaccine that is extremely effective against Covid-19, yet lawmakers prolong everything by fighting vaccines. While requiring a negative test reduces the likelihood of someone spreading the virus, being able to require proof of vaccination would be more concrete. The longer that Covid-19 is spread around, the more that the virus mutates and can possibly develop to the point that the vaccines aren’t effective anymore. I understand that some people don’t want to get vaccinated but I feel that by making that choice, you exclude yourself from participating in large events where you present an unnecessary risk. We can see from Lollapalooza that requiring vaccines was very effective in keeping festival-goers safe, and if states like Texas and Florida want the same events that other states are hosting, they’ll have to adapt the laws and allow venues to require proof of vaccination.
I truly will never understand why people have such an issue with vaccinations and requiring proof of vaccination for admittance to events, venues, or anything else. I’ve never heard people complaining about needing to carry a driver’s license to drive. Or presenting an ID to purchase alcohol. Or presenting a passport to travel internationally. There is so much hypocrisy in these lines of reasoning that simply will never make sense to me. I am glad that these concert production companies are finding these loopholes, but frankly it is so disappointing that these loopholes have to be found at all. The fact that a global pandemic has become more of a political issue than anything else is really disheartening. The proof – the scientific proof – is overwhelming and the case count and death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic are through the roof and still rising, yet there are still people who deny it and refuse to protect themselves and those around them from it. As far as I’m concerned, every company, venue, and event should be finding these loopholes. We have lost a year and a half of our lives. I am sick of it.
As a native Floridian, I can’t properly express how frustrating it is the way that the government and much of the people seem to believe that ignoring Covid-19 is going to make the issue go away. People really can’t seem to comprehend that its selfish to not care about an issue until it affects you personally. It’s amusing to see posts all over social media of people saying they will be boycotting any business that require them to be vaccinated or wear a mask. It makes perfect sense to boycott a business you aren’t even allowed to enter… It’s really interesting to read that Lollapalooza requiring vaccinations actually influence several of the fans to go and get vaccinated. Hopefully we see the same thing happen with theater goers who continue to deny that the vaccine is necessary. I think that giving the alternative to present a negative covid test within a set number of days before a performance is a great way to get around the laws against requiring proof of vaccination.
I’m really glad that these policies are strictly being enforced. At the beginning of the reopening period of time, I feel like the rules were pretty relaxed in terms of requiring vaccination proof, but I’m glad these majors companies are paving the way for this to be standardized. With the development of these new variants that are rapidly spreading, we need to be as strict as possible and ensure that vaccination is widespread. Making it harder and harder for the unvaccinated to be a part of public society is really encouraging most people to get vaccinated, so I’m hoping the remaining people that need to just do at this point. I recently went to Pass Over on Broadway and felt extremely comfortable with the rules that they put in place. Every was required to show proof of vaccination and had to be masked for the entirety of the 90 minute show. Ushers were also enforcing these rules very strictly, which made that even better.
It is very frustrating that the language around vaccines is being set by conservative propaganda. The fact that places like Fox News were riling up fear about “vaccine passports” before they were even being considered is a testament to their proactivity and to the government dropping the ball on controlling the narrative. We already have vaccine passports. They’re called immunization records and almost everyone who went to a K-12 school has one. Mainstream media and the white house need to be more aggressive when it comes to how things are being presented. For every inch given by journalists or the press secretary to these insane notions that public health issues somehow interfere with civil liberties or personal freedoms, conservative law makers take a mile and pass these insane laws that are directly putting people in harm’s way. We need to be more aggressive about vaccination requirements and at this point we just need a federal law to require vaccines, otherwise these ant-vax state laws aren’t going to go away.
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