Chicago officials who touted Lollapalooza a 'success' with just 203 COVID-19 cases may have
UNDERCOUNTED: Experts say it's impossible to identify an outbreak as Indian 'Delta' variant causes a surge
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9905917/Some-experts-say-203-cases-Lollapalooza-undercounted.html
Chicago's Lollapalooza was considered a COVID-19 success by health officials after only 203 of the nearly 400,000 attendees tested positive for the virus
Initial data from the weeks following the event made many hopeful that it was safe to hold large events with vaccine and testing requirements
But some experts are skeptical that the event was as successful as believed because contact tracers likely did not find every case
With 90% of the attendees vaccinated, it is likely that many caught the virus, and never got tested as they were asymptomatic
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'This work is not always completely accurate and often gives us undercounts,' Dr Mercedes Carnethon, vice-chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told USA Today.
Carnethon said the contact tracing used to track down cases post-Lollapalooza was imprecise because tracers often can not reach people.
Some people, especially the vaccinated, may have contracted the virus and just never have gotten tested because they were asymptomatic.
Only 58 of the 203 cases detected were among Chicago residents as well, and it is harder for local contact tracers to reach people outside of the community.
'It was not a disaster,' Carnethon told USA Today.
'But I would fall short of using it as a model and strategy to hold these large events.'
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