WEBVTT - Music Festivals Create 'Bubbles' for Live Shows

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<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, September. I'm Oscar and Mirrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Music festivals and the live events industry are trying to

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<v Speaker 1>create their own bubbles to get people out again. One

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<v Speaker 1>strategy that is being explored is two stage COVID testing.

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<v Speaker 1>Get a test a few days before the event, and

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<v Speaker 1>then another quick test before you can get in. While

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<v Speaker 1>there are some limitations, this could be a model to

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<v Speaker 1>get live events going again. Michelle Luke, independent counterculture journalists

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<v Speaker 1>at Bloomberg News, joins us for more. Thanks for joining us, Michelle,

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you. You know, as we're trying to get things

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<v Speaker 1>back to normal, there's a lot of different ways to

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<v Speaker 1>go about it. One thing in particular that I know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people are missing want to get back

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<v Speaker 1>to normal with is music. Live music, music festivals. There's

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it runs the gamut. There's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>things that are going out there. But right now, music

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<v Speaker 1>festivals are trying to create their own bubbles to get

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<v Speaker 1>people to get out there and enjoy that once again.

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<v Speaker 1>So they're looking at these kind two stage COVID testing.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe test before a few days, then you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>get a quick test at the door, and if all's good,

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<v Speaker 1>you can go inside and party. So there's already been

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<v Speaker 1>one festival who tried this out. This is over the

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<v Speaker 1>Labor Day holiday. Michelle tell us a little bit about

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<v Speaker 1>that and then the broader strategy overall. So that festival

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<v Speaker 1>was called Utopia. It took place in the Poconist Mountains

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<v Speaker 1>in Pennsylvania. It was an LGBT festival, and I think

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<v Speaker 1>that the promoter told me that he was really looking

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<v Speaker 1>for a wave for his community to come back together,

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<v Speaker 1>so he was actually replicating a model that another festival

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<v Speaker 1>did a couple of months ago, where they also did

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<v Speaker 1>two stage testing. And basically how it works is that

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<v Speaker 1>before attending the festival, about four days before, you have

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<v Speaker 1>to go to a medical facility or order it at

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<v Speaker 1>home COVID test and those were sent to a lab

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<v Speaker 1>and then once you got the all clear from that,

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<v Speaker 1>you were able to sort of car pool to the

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<v Speaker 1>festival and you and your car be placed into a

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<v Speaker 1>quarantine area six ft apart where everyone took a rapid test.

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<v Speaker 1>And what was really interesting to me is that they

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<v Speaker 1>actually managed to screen out some people who tested positive.

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<v Speaker 1>I think in total around six attendees had to be

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<v Speaker 1>turned away, and so a few of the attendees who

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<v Speaker 1>managed to make it through the gates also told me

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<v Speaker 1>that even though you know, it was extra money and

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more effort to attend the festival, the sense

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<v Speaker 1>of freedom that they got on the other side made

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<v Speaker 1>it worth it. Yeah, and I'm sure there's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people that are willing to go through those steps

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<v Speaker 1>to get out there and enjoy themselves once again. But

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about some of those hurdles. Obviously, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>cost associated with this for the attendees and for the

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<v Speaker 1>event promoters. You know, the costs are gonna I'm sure

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<v Speaker 1>double in some parts of it. And then there's also

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<v Speaker 1>kind of the logistics of all of that too. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's more time intensive, right, You're getting tested days

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<v Speaker 1>before the line to get inside is probably that much longer.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's talk about some of those things. So one

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<v Speaker 1>thing while writing this story that I wanted to figure out,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it's could this method work for other festivals

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<v Speaker 1>or is it only applicable to like a certain type.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think in general, yeah, it doesn't really work

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<v Speaker 1>for festivals where people aren't camping on site. Because of

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<v Speaker 1>the nature of creating a bubble, you kind of have

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<v Speaker 1>to stay within the ground for the entire time. Even

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<v Speaker 1>leaving to go to like, you know, a grocery store

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<v Speaker 1>to pick up some supplies or something could compromise everybody.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's one of the hurdles. I think that it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't really work for larger festivals like let's say Coachella. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>the promoters told me that when it came down to

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<v Speaker 1>the numbers, you know, he had to really beef up

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<v Speaker 1>his staff in order to provide the kind of attention

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<v Speaker 1>that you would need to do all of the testing

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<v Speaker 1>and just give people sort of like reminders to wear

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<v Speaker 1>masks and things like that. There's just more staffing needs.

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<v Speaker 1>So his staffing costs went from ten percent to so

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much doubled, and the testing altogether took up thirty

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<v Speaker 1>percent of his budget. So this wasn't really a money

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<v Speaker 1>making operation for him. He said he saw it as

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<v Speaker 1>more of an investment in his future because he's planning

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<v Speaker 1>to keep doing this again. He already has another that

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<v Speaker 1>can come for Halloween. In that specific example, I guess

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<v Speaker 1>the prophet margin was about eight percent compared to an

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<v Speaker 1>average oft before the pandemic, so definitely not a big

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<v Speaker 1>money maker on that front, which you know would put

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of promoters off. And you know we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about also huge festivals like Coachella. Let's say, it would

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<v Speaker 1>be so hard to get some of this done, and

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<v Speaker 1>as you mentioned, if you're not camping there, it breaks

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<v Speaker 1>the bubble. There's a lot of stuff that goes into this.

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<v Speaker 1>But they're really looking at this model as something that

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<v Speaker 1>could at least hold them over for now, because you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a vaccine is still gonna take some time. Beyond that,

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<v Speaker 1>to get people actually vaccinated in large numbers is going

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<v Speaker 1>to take time, and in the meantime, you know, these

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<v Speaker 1>events promoters want to get back to action. People wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to They want that escape. They don't want to be

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<v Speaker 1>closed down anymore. So they're still kind of looking at

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<v Speaker 1>this two testing stage thing as a possibility exactly. And

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's such an interesting time for nightlife and

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<v Speaker 1>music events. You know a lot of promoters have not

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<v Speaker 1>been doing anything, or they've you know indefinitely post full

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<v Speaker 1>or in some cases we've seen some festivals kind of

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<v Speaker 1>schedule some things for one. So you know, on one hand,

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<v Speaker 1>I think a lot of events organizers just don't feel

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<v Speaker 1>like it's safe to be doing anything right now, and

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<v Speaker 1>they really pushed back on anyone throwing events. So that's

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<v Speaker 1>another part of the conversation that I thought was very interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>But then you have promoters like the one who was

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<v Speaker 1>behind this festival who really think that there is a

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<v Speaker 1>light at the end of the tunnel, and that's focusing

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<v Speaker 1>on COVID testing is one way that they can do

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<v Speaker 1>this now and create a community that you know, is

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<v Speaker 1>engaged with them during this strange pandemic time. And to me,

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<v Speaker 1>I think another side of the story was to kind

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<v Speaker 1>of try to figure out if COVID testing is accurate

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<v Speaker 1>enough to make this a viable solution. To me, that's

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<v Speaker 1>what the story really hinged on, right like can we

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<v Speaker 1>trust the COVID testing. That's in a very important point

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<v Speaker 1>because the classic test, the nasal swabs, the ones that

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<v Speaker 1>are sent to labs, are a lot more reliable than

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<v Speaker 1>these rapid response tests. So you might be getting something

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<v Speaker 1>a few days ahead of time that says you're good,

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<v Speaker 1>and then rapid response test the day of could give

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<v Speaker 1>you maybe a false positive or false negative things like that.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's definitely another thing to be ware of. So

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<v Speaker 1>I actually took this question all the way up to

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<v Speaker 1>the New York City Department of Health as well as

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<v Speaker 1>the Office of Nightlife to try and figure out as

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<v Speaker 1>we should get some guidelines from you know, city officials,

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<v Speaker 1>and unfortunately, you know, what was striking to me is

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<v Speaker 1>that both of these departments kind of told me that

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<v Speaker 1>they basically couldn't comment, that they couldn't really say without

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<v Speaker 1>any clear guidance from city officials. This answer is a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit difficult to answer, but the fact is that

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<v Speaker 1>organizers of events are doing it anyway. And I guess,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the promoter of this festival recently told me

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<v Speaker 1>that he had zero confirmed cases after the festival, so

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<v Speaker 1>I guess you know, there's that. Yeah, I mean, that's great,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's what people look to. You know, you try

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<v Speaker 1>this kind of experiment, did it work, and then you

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<v Speaker 1>can build off of that. So it's an interesting thing

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<v Speaker 1>and everybody's trying to get back to normal. So this

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<v Speaker 1>is just one aspect of exploring that. Michelle Luke, Independent

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<v Speaker 1>counterculture journalists at Bloomberg News, thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. Thank you for my Oscar Ramirez, and this

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<v Speaker 1>has been reopening America, don't forget defforts days big news stories.

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<v Speaker 1>You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every Monday the Friday. The follow us on I Heart

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