How to Practice Festival Safety with COVID-19
Now that festivals are starting to make their way back, it’s of the utmost importance that we’re all staying safe and practicing safe health guidelines! Not only are there standards that we should expect our venues and promoters to uphold when it comes to health and safety standards, but there are also things that we must be doing as attendees to keep ourselves and friends safe as well. Below are my top tips for staying healthy and practicing festival safety with COVID-19 this year!
Travel Tips
Going to and from the event (turns out) is actually one of the riskiest parts of actually getting to the events. Of course, not surprising though- with multiple stops for food, gas, restroom breaks, etc. there are endless opportunities to touch “high-traffic” areas (resource 3). This, in turn, increases your risks of picking up the virus at one of these locations. The great news though, is that disinfecting high traffic areas is actually very easy if you come prepared. And if you’ve been following along long enough, you know I’m all about keeping you prepared.
Tips:
- Make sure you pack the Colorox bleach wipes and some extras for the trip. You’ll want to keep these readily available in the car so you can wipe down those high risk areas.
- Gas pumps- sanitize them before and after use
- Door handles
- PIN pads for debit/credit cards
- Try going for paperless options if it’s available (i.e. wallet, tap touch for cards, etc.)
- Bring along multiple bottles of hand sanitizer (minimum of 60% alcohol)
- It’s recommended to wash or sanitize your hands before and after every ‘experience’ (in this situation, gas pumps, restrooms, key pads, etc.)
- It’s recommended to quarantine 10 days before and after the event to make sure you’re healthy/are able to avoid the spread if it does happen to pass to you
Campsite Tips
It goes without saying, keeping campsites as clean as possible is going to be important. There are tons of shared surfaces within a campsite. Therefore, keeping those surfaces clean at all times is super important! Outside of just keeping the areas clean yourself, making sure you communicate the importance of cleaning communal areas with the rest of your campsite.
Tips:
- When you’re setting up camp, wipe down all of the surfaces you touch with your Colorox wipes
- Either before everyone arrives or once everyone’s set up, communicate the importance of cleaning the communal areas. Do not leave out food/drinks to eliminate risk of shared food/drink
- Always have sanitation wipes available in communal areas. (I personally recommend having several throughout the site to ensure it’s always around)
- Keep shared surfaces clean such (tables, coolers, lighters, etc.)
Inside the Venue
Outside of travel, being inside the venue is going to be another “high-risk” area (according to the CDC) that’s important to be cognizant of. Keeping an appropriate distance and wearing face coverings will be the easiest way to create a safe space for you and those around you! Of course, there are other ways to be aware of health safety at the events.
Critical thinking:
- Are the people in the area wearing face masks (correctly)?
- Are there high-traffic areas to that should either be sanitized or avoided?
- Is there enough distance between people/tables/lines/etc?
- Are there paperless or single-use options that you can use?
- Try and avoid peak hours for anything
- Avoid hanging out and loitering in large traffic areas when possible – this means try avoiding popular areas during peak times, as well as try and avoid loitering in areas like bars, concessions, shopping, etc. (resource 4)
- Sanitize your hands frequently- you should do so before and after interacting with other people and high-traffic areas –
Items You’ll want to bring:
- Mini bottle of Clorox bleach wipes
- Mini hand sanitizer & holder (ideally something that’s going to be on the “outside” of your bag so you can sanitize frequently without contaminating the other times you’ve brought inside)
- Your own hydration pack/bottle of water – avoiding sharing drinks, food, chapstick, smokes, etc. with others is highly recommended by the CDC
- Make sure your phone is fully charged and you have a portable charger available if needed (even though most events now-a-days have charging stations you can utilize for free if needed)
- This is important so you can maintain a paperless experience inside the venues as most place also accept various forms of electronic payment (iPhone, Android, QR codes, etc.)
