Lollapalooza signs warn attendees they assume all risk for COVID-19 exposure

Signs were posted at the entrance to Lollapalooza alerting attendees that they voluntarily assume all risks related to COVID exposure. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Over 100,000 people are expected to enter Grant Park each of the four days at Lollapalooza. As they enter, they’re being greeted not just by a requirement for proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, but by signs informing them that, by attending the festival, they assume all risk related to exposure to the virus.

The signs, captured by a Sun-Times photographer at the festival’s main entrance on Michigan Avenue, explain to festivalgoers something that’s not included on their health and safety website. By attending Lollapalooza, “you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19,” which they mention “can lead to severe illness and death.”

A day before the start of the festival Thursday in downtown Chicago, the city’s top doctor, Dr. Allison Arwady, said the current COVID-19 situation is in “good control” despite rising case numbers due to the Delta variant and lagging vaccination rates.

Attendees present their proof of vaccination cards at the entrance to Lollapalooza on Thursday.

“Here in Chicago, we remain actually in quite good control for COVID, but that is not the case around the country,” Arwady said at a City Hall news conference.

Under the rules implemented by the city and the festival’s operator, Live Nation, everyone entering Lollapalooza is required to present a vaccination card or a negative COVID-19 test, which must be obtained within 72 hours of attending. Unvaccinated people must wear face masks, although it’s unclear how the festival would enforce that.

Lollapalooza runs through Sunday with huge acts including Miley Cyrus, Foo Fighters and Post Malone slated to perform.