A fair point, but the supposed difference is that in the general population you are mixing with a random selection of people. At Latitude, in theory, we were only mixing with people that had tested negative. I guess it was wishful thinking that everyone would be candid and honest, and that Lateral flow tests would be very reliable, but I suppose that is what was being tested.
I was working at the festival and the conditions of entry were more stringent. Even though I'm double jabbed I had to take a Lateral flow test twice over the weekend, fill in a daily health report and - this is the key point - I had to take a photo of myself holding up the negative lateral flow test that I had used and uploaded the result of. It would have been much harder to fake than merely upload a result.
Conversely, friends I met at the festivals who had come as punters reported that the checks of the gate were cursory for them at best. They all did the right thing, of course, but the paper "proof" held up could have anything written on it, so I was told.
So I guess it comes down the pragmatism. The organisers knew what was needed to be properly sure you were negative and made all their workers go through those hoops. They also knew being that thorough would put off the general public and was perhaps impractical on a large scale.
Not an unreasonable conclusion, but it does show that they therefore knew that the method of "proof" they asked of the public fell short and could, and probably would, be compromised.
