After news broke on Monday that Pfizer’s new COVID vaccine was seeing a 90% effectiveness rate, people in the music industry had one question: can we start touring again?
After the Biden/Harris election celebrations and Notre Dame football fans rushing the field this past weekend, artists are already pissed off about not touring this year. Many took to social media to call out the hypocrisy of the large crowds. However, with the news of an effective vaccine in the works, it feels like we might actually be moving closer to big live shows again.
But… you’re going to have to get the vaccine if you want to attend. Or, have a negative COVID test with 24-72 hours prior to the concert (depending on local laws). How is that gonna work? Ticketmaster is already working on a way to verify your health status.
According to Billboard, here’s what they plan to do:
“After purchasing a ticket for a concert, fans would need to verify that they have already been vaccinated (which would provide approximately one year of COVID-19 protection) or test negative for coronavirus approximately 24 to 72 hours prior to the concert. The length of coverage a test would provide would be governed by regional health authorities — if attendees of a Friday night concert had to be tested 48 hours in advance, most could start the testing process the day before the event. If it was a 24-hour window, most people would likely be tested the same day of the event at a lab or a health clinic.
Once the test was complete, the fan would instruct the lab to deliver the results to their health pass company, like CLEAR or IBM. If the tests were negative, or the fan was vaccinated, the health pass company would verify the attendee’s COVID-19 status to Ticketmaster, which would then issue the fan the credentials needed to access the event. If a fan tested positive or didn’t take a test to verify their status, they would not be granted access to the event.”
Obviously, we have a long way to go on this, but it looks like the future of concerts in larger venues, at least for the foreseeable future, is going to include some kind of electronic health verification.
Now, the elephant in the room… who wants/doesn’t want to get the vaccine?
According to CNN Health, a recent poll shows that only about half the population would get the vaccine as soon as it’s offered.
“If a Covid-19 vaccine were widely available at a low cost, 51% of respondents in the survey said they would try to get vaccinated, 45% said they would not try and 4% had no opinion, according to poll findings released on Monday.”
Welcome to the new normal folks.
Until then…
