Now that Washington has lifted the state of emergency, more and more public spaces have opened up to an extent including concerts. The demand for outdoor events and flexibility for the state has increased as Washington is among one of the states with the most stern Covid-19 rules.

With concerts opening up in Washington, questions on safety have risen. The recent Travis Scott incident has been a devastating example of what poor concert management and safety guidelines can lead to.

“It’s awful man, some people died,” senior Jesus Ramirez said.

The Travis Scott concert that took nine lives and injured many more was a result of a crowd surge. A crowd surge is when crowds of people come running or start rioting towards the stage. In this case it was Travis Scott’s.

Many people are concerned about the safety of future concerts as the demand for concerts has increased since the COVID-19 mandate lifts. The requirement for an outside gathering of 500 people or more is a face mask, possible vaccination, and a possible negative COVID test. The COVID guidelines for Washington have been a rollercoaster ride, with restrictions being put down and then lifted several months later. When is it right for the guidelines to be lifted?

“I’d probably wait until restrictions died down because you know, you can’t breathe with 15,000 people around you,” senior Michael Colonna said.

The COVID situation hasn’t been going the best. A new variant labeled Omicron has surfaced among citizens in Botswana and is spreading all across the globe, reaching places like Europe and the U.S Lockdown is being considered for multiple countries, with China and some of the U.K already in lockdown.