Will the 2021 festival go ahead?

[thetime]

15 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Here's a grim thought - if they go ahead with the testing on the gates approach, how many people are so desperate to go they would go try and catch it on purpose in say, April, as you can't get it twice?

Sudden surge in window lickers.

[sisco]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Highly unlikely that you’d get it twice in quick succession BUT you might test positive due to dead virus being picked up months later. This tactic could easily backfire. 

Well that’s not a nice thought is it!

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

5 hours ago, DeanoL said:

Here's a grim thought - if they go ahead with the testing on the gates approach, how many people are so desperate to go they would go try and catch it on purpose in say, April, as you can't get it twice?

Is it actually that grim? If you’re under 40 and desperate to not end up being turned away at the gate then it wouldn’t be that odd would it? It’s not like the virus isn't/won’t be circulating normally anyway, so short of locking yourself in the cellar, then there is a reasonable chance you get it at some point in your life if you don’t get vaccinated first.
 

[DeanoL]

3 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Is it actually that grim? If you’re under 40 and desperate to not end up being turned away at the gate then it wouldn’t be that odd would it? It’s not like the virus isn't/won’t be circulating normally anyway, so short of locking yourself in the cellar, then there is a reasonable chance you get it at some point in your life if you don’t get vaccinated first.
 

But you'd be just 2-4 months away from getting vaccinated. So it's not the rest of your life.

And the hospitalisation rate among young people is around 1%. That's not low enough for me. I'd stay in the cellar!

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

6 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

But you'd be just 2-4 months away from getting vaccinated. So it's not the rest of your life.

And the hospitalisation rate among young people is around 1%. That's not low enough for me. I'd stay in the cellar!

Yeah, I don’t think it’s that odd though. Because if you go about normal life for two months you’ll stand a high chance of getting it anyway.

For me the choice to try and deliberately get it on April is not anymore or less strange than locking yourself away for 2-3 months. 

[Crazyfool01]

if they tested the punters presumably they would be testing workers and performers too .... that might cause some very last minute gaps in the lineups .... 

[rithpotter]

[zahidf]

"At the same time, the government has begun pilot schemes to look at ending the self-isolation period altogether next year. The trial, based in Liverpool, will test contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases daily for a period, and only ask them to isolate if they test positive."

[charlierc]

I mean, I have tickets to 3 shows next summer (all with US acts) but I have no confidence yet they'll happen. I wonder when I might begin to think they will, but it could well be it comes down to the wire.

Deliberately contracting covid if you can't get vaccinated feels like a terrible idea, mind.

[Leyrulion]

6 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

if they tested the punters presumably they would be testing workers and performers too .... that might cause some very last minute gaps in the lineups .... 

Oh I hadn't thought of that. They'll need more backups then usual. 

Thankfully they've got two festivals worth of acts to get through.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I wouldn’t personally purposefully try and get it, I just don’t see it as that crazy. I would completely self isolate for a week or so before (probably from the start of the second weekend before) though.

But thinking about that, if I did then surely I’d have to get everyone I’m going with (three others) to do so as well? If one of us tested positive then surely we’d all be in trouble?

Or maybe that will be considered an acceptable risk, as long as nobody enters the gates who is positive then the amount of people that develop it during the festival will be negligible enough not to worry about.

Otherwise where would you draw the line? It would make the coach tickets completely unviable as you’d have to exclude the whole coach if one person on it tested positive, but I guess the answer to that would be testing at the coach departure sites instead.

[Zoo Music Girl]

4 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I wouldn’t personally purposefully try and get it, I just don’t see it as that crazy. I would completely self isolate for a week or so before (probably from the start of the second weekend before) though.

But thinking about that, if I did then surely I’d have to get everyone I’m going with (three others) to do so as well? If one of us tested positive then surely we’d all be in trouble?

Or maybe that will be considered an acceptable risk, as long as nobody enters the gates who is positive then the amount of people that develop it during the festival will be negligible enough not to worry about.

Otherwise where would you draw the line? It would make the coach tickets completely unviable as you’d have to exclude the whole coach if one person on it tested positive, but I guess the answer to that would be testing at the coach departure sites instead.

Yes these are some of the reasons why testing at the site seems problematic. You could test at coach departure sites, but what about train stations? Not everyone travelling to Castle Cary would be going to the festival so how would that be managed? Also I'm sure several people get multiple connecting trains.

In your scenario, if someone you travelled with had it and wasn't allowed in then what would the rest of the party do for transport home? It would kind of be encouraging everyone to bring their own transport, which doesn't really fit the green ethos.

Testing beforehand makes more sense to me, but I think there's a lot of problems with that too (faking results, many people not being able to isolate after testing due to work, transport etc and so still potentially arriving infected). But this is why I don't expect mass testing to be required for entry. By then I think, as others have said, that the government will let things go ahead at punters' own risk. Either that or it won't go ahead in my opinion (I'm leaning more towards it being allowed, though).

[fatyeti24]

There are obviously no ideal solutions, and I'm glad it's not my job to make the decisions, but testing at the site is problematic.  We travel from Cumbria with a caravan and it takes two days.  To get to the gate to be told to turn back around would be soul destroying - as well as having taken a good chunk of time and expense.

[Zoo Music Girl]

11 minutes ago, Big durbs said:

the last conversation i had with someone on the inside ( the day the vaccine was approved ) , he said they were going ahead and would be using mass testing ! , even with the vaccine in place , the chances of everyone having the jab was low as its rolled out for high ages and at risk first , this would leave a large demographic without a jab. this is a plan that GFL and reading/leeds had been working on together for some time , and was hinted at in the last Q&A that Micheal gave at the Wells book week.

on the upside , testing by then will be very quick and easy , and will be something you can probably walk into boots and get to set your mind at rest before traveling down to the farm , after all , no one wants that long drive and Q to the gates to be turned away .

not sure what they would do about those that get turned away as far as their ticket is concerned , i suspect they would be allowed to roll it over , but that might leave a number of VERY last Minuit opportunities for someone to buy a ticket on the gate ,  if your willing to sit wait in hope ( sounds horrid when you think about it , that you could get in because someone else has failed the test )

Yeah I saw this reported earlier. It's still a way off though and I genuinely could see the testing plan being abandoned by June. What do I know though? Really just my own gut feeling! 

[Zoo Music Girl]

7 minutes ago, fatyeti24 said:

There are obviously no ideal solutions, and I'm glad it's not my job to make the decisions, but testing at the site is problematic.  We travel from Cumbria with a caravan and it takes two days.  To get to the gate to be told to turn back around would be soul destroying - as well as having taken a good chunk of time and expense.

I've still not seen anyone suggest a solution for how coach travellers who test positive get home! 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

31 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Yes these are some of the reasons why testing at the site seems problematic. You could test at coach departure sites, but what about train stations? Not everyone travelling to Castle Cary would be going to the festival so how would that be managed? Also I'm sure several people get multiple connecting trains.

In your scenario, if someone you travelled with had it and wasn't allowed in then what would the rest of the party do for transport home? It would kind of be encouraging everyone to bring their own transport, which doesn't really fit the green ethos.

Testing beforehand makes more sense to me, but I think there's a lot of problems with that too (faking results, many people not being able to isolate after testing due to work, transport etc and so still potentially arriving infected). But this is why I don't expect mass testing to be required for entry. By then I think, as others have said, that the government will let things go ahead at punters' own risk. Either that or it won't go ahead in my opinion (I'm leaning more towards it being allowed, though).

It does seem incredibly problematic, and as you say thousands of people come by train as well so one person could’ve infected multiple other people and various points on their journey.

I’m inclined to think if any sort of onsite testing ends up happening it will be based purely on whoever tests positive at that point and they sadly will be refused entry. Anybody they travelled who ends up getting it later on during the festival will be seen as an acceptable situation as long as any positives are weeded our at the point of entry.

Otherwise, the act of actually travelling to the festival is as much of a ‘super spreader’ event as the festival itself anyway, so if you’re going to refuse entry to people who might have been in contact with people who test positive, you’re circling back round to the festival not being viable in the first place. It’s kind of shutting the gate after the horse has bolted to turn people away who might develop the virus later on when you in theory put them in the situation to do so in the first place, and that’s without even considering where you would actually draw the line as far as who you turn away.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[Zoo Music Girl]

But what would you do if your mate tested positive and your mate was your lift? He would need to drive home. Or would you just not worry about that until Monday?

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I know, things like that make it seem totally unviable. Glastonbury don’t really seem like the type of organisation that wouldn’t give consideration to that sort of thing, and the fact that a lot of people will have spent some greater than the cost of a ticket to make their way there etc.

The best thing to do would be some sort of test a couple of days before, that would soften the blow somewhat for those that test positive, although it’s still not ideal of course. Then the festival will just be very much ‘enter at your own risk’.

From a societal point of view you could then have tests after the festival, with the need to self isolate if you test positive. Quite how you’d manage that though I have no idea.

Lets hope they’re basing the need for testing as a means to go ahead with the hope it is never actually needed.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Also if you test positive, then the only way you could get home would be to drive yourself, you couldn’t get on a train, get a taxi, get on a bus etc if you knew you had it. So ultimately it seems completely unworkable.

[fatyeti24]

28 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I've still not seen anyone suggest a solution for how coach travellers who test positive get home! 

They can come and stay in our caravan.  We'll make our own fun, it'll be just as good!

[parsonjack]

Not sure if we've missed this but this could be either good.....or bad if it has to stay open longer than spring.

https://sheptonmallet.nub.news/n/bath-and-west-showground-near-shepton-mallet-to-be-a-main-covid-19-vaccination-centre

 

[xxialac]

38 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I've still not seen anyone suggest a solution for how coach travellers who test positive get home! 

My suggestion was that Glastonbury provides a service where they drive such people (with a barrier between driver and passenger) to the nearest train station.

I don't see any problem with this.  And people test positive at airports, having not driven there - this already happens

On the train, you keep a distance from other people as much as possible, wear a mask and go straight home to self-isolate.

You can never eliminate all risk.

[Zoo Music Girl]

8 minutes ago, xxialac said:

My suggestion was that Glastonbury provides a service where they drive such people (with a barrier between driver and passenger) to the nearest train station.

I don't see any problem with this.  And people test positive at airports, having not driven there - this already happens

On the train, you keep a distance from other people as much as possible, wear a mask and go straight home to self-isolate.

You can never eliminate all risk.

I sort of think if you're happy knowingly letting a load of people with covid on public transport then the require to test to get into the festival itself is pretty pointless and just amounts to theatre really. 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

5 minutes ago, xxialac said:

My suggestion was that Glastonbury provides a service where they drive such people (with a barrier between driver and passenger) to the nearest train station.

I don't see any problem with this.  And people test positive at airports, having not driven there - this already happens

On the train, you keep a distance from other people as much as possible, wear a mask and go straight home to self-isolate.

You can never eliminate all risk.

It seems to me though as I alluded to in another post, you’re getting back to the realms of the festival not really being viable if you end up in that situation. Simply having the festival take place has created a situation where people who have Covid have travelled to the festival with other people and then have to potentially travel back with other people as well.
 

If the festival hadn't been on in the first place that wouldn’t have happened, you’d probably end up in a situation where the virus was spread more by simply getting there than actually within the festival itself.

 

Quite rightly MPs who knowingly travelled in trains with Covid have been sacked/resigned. Of course you could spread out, but it would create ridiculously bad press, ‘festival goers turned away made to travel home on public transport’ can’t see it happening.

[xxialac]

6 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I sort of think if you're happy knowingly letting a load of people with covid on public transport then the require to test to get into the festival itself is pretty pointless and just amounts to theatre really. 

But it won't be a load, it will be a very small number.

And some people who travel to the festival will be conducting high risk behaviours, in ignorance that they are carriers. Whereas the same people returning home will be highly careful. 

I agree the press might not like this but it's absolutely fine in my opinion to do a 'one-off' journey. After all there are people travelling on trains twice a day not knowing they have Covid.

And Glastonbury would actually be doing society a favour by stopping this behaviour early.