Pitchfork, Taste of Chicago, and Lollapalooza included.
In quarantine, you can’t help but fantasize about all the fun you’re going to have after all this madness blows over. All the trips you’re going to take, the restaurants you’re going to visit, and the festivals you’re going to attend.
However, you might have to wait a little longer. According to Governor JB Pritzker, without a working vaccine for COVID-19 in place, all Chicago summer festivals may have to be cancelled.
In a press conference last Thursday, the governor took to the podium to convey his apprehension of the summer festivities.
“I think everyone needs to think seriously about canceling large summer events,” said Pritzker in response to a reporter during a recent press conference. “I do not see how we are going to have large gatherings of people again until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away,” said the governor.
Pritzker is not alone on this sentiment. Some health experts have stated that large gatherings won’t be safely plausible until as late as fall of 2021. Unfortunately, that includes ceremonies, sporting events, conferences, concerts, and festivals.
At this moment, there are over 80 Chicago music, art, food, comedy, and beer festivals slated from the months of July to the end of September.
“I would not risk having large groups of people getting together anywhere. And I think that’s hard for everybody to here. But that’s just a fact,” he said.
As of April 13, there have been 9,113 cases of COVID-19 in Chicago with 22,025 in Illinois, according to Chicago.gov.
Furthermore, Pritzker made a statement regarding Illinois’ stay-at-home order enacted on March 21; in which he commented that the order will not likely be lifted before April 30.
“As we approach April 30 we will be thinking about, ‘What are the restrictions or rules that we need to set going forward after April 30?’ Because it isn’t gonna be that all the sudden you’re gonna drop the stay at home and every other restriction, and that’s because there is a propensity that, if you do that, we’re gonna see a big spike upward and once again hospitalizations, ICU beds filled, beds filled and more death,” the governor said in the same press conference.
[Featured image via wikimedia commons / Lacrossewi / CC BY-SA]