G! festival facing a big Covid dilemma

Preparations are well underway for the G! festival in Gøta, due to be held 15-17 July.

This is unfortunate, Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen said today as he announced the government’s stance on Covid precautions in relation to this summer’s music festivals.

“Since music festivals tend to gather crowds that are significantly larger than our current maximum limit of 500 people, the health authorities have concluded that it is not advisable to go ahead with music festivals given the current Covid-19 situation.”

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This statement, and not least its timing, has put the organisers of the G! festival in a difficult situation.

"We’re not happy to go against the official Covid recommendations,” chief G! organiser Sigvør Laksá said today.

“But the authorities have kept us in the dark for too long regarding what is allowed and what isn’t, so unless the Covid situation worsens significantly, we will be going ahead with our festival,”

She added that it is strange to hear the authorities advise against music festivals while at the same time saying that ólavsøka (national holidays, 28-29 July) can go ahead as normal.

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According to the Prime Minister, town and village fetes such as last weekend’s Jóansøka in Tvøroyri are significantly safer than music festivals.

“There is a much greater degree of safe distancing at a village fete than at a music festival, where thousands tend to gather in front of the big concert stages.”

Asked specifically about ólavsøka, he said: “The two weeks between G! and ólavsøka will go a long way towards achieving the herd immunity we have been looking for with our vaccination programme, so we will most likely have a different situation by the end of next month.”

Three new Covid cases

Three positive Covid tests were registered yesterday. One is linked to a known chain of infection, but the sources of infection for the other two have not yet been identified.

The daily numbers of positive tests over the past week have been as follows: 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0 and 3.

One person is receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19, and 40 people are currently listed as being in quarantine.

According to the latest vaccination figures on corona.fo, updated today, 28,060 people (52.6 percent of the population) have received the first shot of the vaccine, while 18,814 (35.2 percent) have received the second shot.

For further information about Covid-19 in the Faroes, visit corona.fo.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

Translated by prosa.fo

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