COVID-19
The Once-Called “Herd Immunity Fest” Happened and Here’s What Went Down: Video + Photos
The once-named “Herd Immunity Fest” made national headlines when it was announced last month, and now the three-day rock gathering is in the books. The festival took place Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, and a smattering of social media posts and YouTube clips offer a glimpse of what it looked like. The “Herd Immunity Fest” faced backlash when it was first announced in late June, not only for its name but for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite organizers quickly renaming the event the “July Mini Fest”, a handful of bands dropped off the bill, including Nonpoint, Royal Bliss, Kaleido, and Blacktop Mojo. Things looked sketchy this past week when organizers reached out t...
NCDC: Coronavirus presents malaria symptoms but it’s not
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says though Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents symptoms similar to malaria such as fever, both diseases are caused by different organisms and differ in mode of transmission. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle, while warning Nigerians against taking COVID-19 and malaria as the same infection. The health agency also identified 12 symptoms that could point to the existence of COVID-19 in the human body. According to NCDC, the listed symptoms will help Nigerians “take responsibility” by quickly calling the available holtines if they experienced a combination of this symptoms. The NCDC urged Nigerians to alert its officials, “If you have COUGH or FEVER and one of these symptoms: Loss of Taste; Loss of Smell, Difficulty Breathing, D...
A Seattle Company Disguised a Drive-In Rave as a Religious Service—And Got Away with It
A Seattle concert lighting company has pulled off a hoodwinking of biblical proportions. You’ll understand that pun in a moment. According to a report by IQ Magazine, Seattle-based company R90 hosted a recent drive-in rave by classifying it as a religious service. Doing so allowed them to swerve the repercussions that result from violations of COVID-19 lockdown laws in the state of Washington. R90’s “Covert Bat Drive Thru Rave” was organized by owner Joe Cole, who found a fortuitous loophole in Washington Governor Jay Inslee‘s official memorandum permitting drive-in spiritual services. Cole and his team pitched the rave to state officials as a spiritual gathering that would offer “the gift of music.” What followed was an intimate 21-car r...
The Killers Set New Album Release Date for Imploding the Mirage
The Killers have finally landed on a release date for Imploding the Mirage. The new album is due out in just a little over a month on August 21st through Island Records. “COVID-19 monkey wrenched us. But we persevered. Folks, mark your calendars,” the band wrote on Instagram. Originally slated to drop in May, The Killers’ sixth full-length was put on hold “due to delays in finalizing the album.” It was recorded in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Park City, Utah, and co-produced by the group with help from Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Julian Casablancas) and Foxygen’s own Jonathan Rado. Imploding the Mirage marks the first Killers LP to be released since the band members left their much loved hometown of Las Vegas. As previously noted, the follow-up to 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful features...
Ekiti bans traditional festivals in towns, villages
The Ekiti State Government has directed traditional rulers in towns and villages to either postpone or cancel for the rest of the year, all pending local festivals in their domains to curb the spread of Coronavirus. The State Coordinator of COVID-19 Task Force Response Team, Prof Bolaji Aluko, made the announcement in a statement in Ado Ekiti. He disclosed that Ekiti State had cumulatively recorded 78 positive Coronavirus cases, with 29 active, 2 deaths and 47 discharged, warning that the cases can rise dramatically if public assemblies continued unchecked. He said as the state was gradually entering the full blown season of Traditional Festival, therefore, travels from within Ekiti State and various parts of Nigeria by indigenes and visitors to the various towns and villages during this p...
BottleRock Festival Cancelled, 2020 Headliners Rescheduled for 2021 Edition
Northern California’s BottleRock Napa music festival has been cancelled for 2020 and rescheduled to take place in May 2021. In a statement, organizers cited a need to prioritize public health and safety as the reason for the cancellation. The festival was originally scheduled for late May of this year, but with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March, organizers took action and initially postponed the festival to October 2020. Major concerts and festivals are a part of California’s Phase 4 reopening stage, which health experts seem to believe will not be achieved prior to the availability of a vaccine. BottleRock organizers will now aim to host the festival next year during Memorial Day Weekend. In postponing the festival, organizers ...
A “Rave-in-a-Box” Clubbing Experience is Launching in Manchester
The creators of club night La Discothèque have announced a new clubbing experience designed to safely adhere to social distancing guidelines. Puffin Box will create a “rave-in-a-box” style experience for a limited number of guests looking to safely enjoy a night out at the club. Taking place at Hilton House in Manchester, five boxes will dot the club floor, each creating a controlled environment for up to eight guests. Each Puffin Box session will last around 90-minutes. The sessions will be soundtracked by live performing DJs as well as takeovers by DJ collectives. The boxes are built to simulate a night out, each equipped with furniture, refreshments, and, of course, space to dance. Following each session, the boxes will be cleaned to ensure public health safety is maintained...
Insomniac Officially Postpones EDC Korea Due to COVID-19 Concerns
EDC Korea is the latest major festival brand to wave the white flag due to the impact of COVID-19. The Korean edition of Insomniac‘s flagship festival series was scheduled to take place August 15th to 16th, 2020, but those dates have now been abandoned. Organizers took to Instagram to announce the solemn news. “The well-being of our fans has always been our number one priority,” the post reads. “Though the world is moving in a more positive direction, it is still too early for us to gather at EDC Korea 2020 on our scheduled dates. While we are all disappointed by this outcome, we are excited to shift our focus to creating an unforgettable experience at next year’s festival. We send our full support to all of the hard-working medical personnel during these times...
South Africa Super Rugby teams back in training on Monday
South Africa’s Super Rugby franchises will be allowed to start training next week, officials confirmed on Friday, a step closer to a return to the playing field after a frustrating four months. The game has been suspended in the country since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with South African Rugby having to sit idle as domestic competitions took flight in New Zealand and Australia. “This is an important first step back to playing, and we have taken it carefully to ensure full compliance and having thoroughly interrogated the regulations with government,” SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux said in a statement. “Contact training will not be permitted for the moment but the players will be allowed back onto the field with a rugby ball and back into the gym – while observing strict proto...
UNICEF, Patoranking re-release Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with Patoranking, a popular Nigerian musician and some other artistes, on Friday re-released the late Bob Marley’s iconic song, “One Love.” This is contained in a statement signed by UNICEF Abuja, Communication, Advocacy and Partnerships officer, Oluwatosin Akingbulu. Mr Akingbulu said that proceeds from the song and related activities would be used to support “Reimagine”, UNICEF’s new global campaign. He said the campaign was organised to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from becoming a lasting crisis for children and to ensure the post-pandemic world was fairer and more equal for every child. “The release is to support UNICEF’s work to reimagine a fairer, more just world for children whose lives had been upended by the COVID-19 pa...
Melinda Gates tasks policymakers on protection of women, girls in fight against coronavirus
In a paper titled “The Pandemic’s Toll on Women and Girls,” Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, has tasked global leaders and policymakers on the protection of women and girls in the fight against the coronavirus. Gates said that to recover fully from this pandemic, leaders must respond to the ways that it is affecting men and women differently. In the paper, she puts forward a set of specific, practical policy recommendations that governments should consider in their pandemic response—to improve health systems for women and girls, design more inclusive economic policies, gather better data, and prioritize women’s leadership. Writing in the paper, Gates described how previous disease outbreaks, including AIDS and Ebola, tend to exploit existing forces of ine...
NANNM: 200 nurses in Abuja contract coronavirus
Over 200 nurses in the various medical facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have contracted COVID-19, Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwifery has stated. Out of the affected nurses, some 12 others have recovered and have been out of isolation, Chairperson Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwifery, Federal Capital Territory chapter, Deborah Yusufu, told the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists who was at the Secretariat in Abuja to make donations of Personnel Protective Equipments (PPEs) to them. According to Yusufu, Nigerian nurses are at the frontline of battling the COVID-19 pandemic because of their duties which make them most exposed among medical personnel in the various healthcare facility across the world and in the case Nigeria. She explained that th...
