Next month’s Birthplace of Route 66 Festival in Springfield, Missouri, was canceled Monday due to concerns about an upturn of COVID-19 cases in the region.
The festival, which typically draws between 60,000 and 80,000 people, was axed for a second straight year because of the pandemic. It had been scheduled for Aug. 13-14, including a “surprise” concert on Aug. 12.
According to a news release from the city:
“Obviously, we are very disappointed. After having to cancel the 2020 festival, we were so looking forward to 2021,” said Cora Scott, director of Public Information & Civic Engagement for the City of Springfield and festival steering committee member. “With our region’s low vaccination rate against COVID-19, the resulting surge of infections are overwhelming our hospitals and making our community sick. We feel it is just not safe to bring tens of thousands of people from all over the world to this community for any reason.”
“The 2019 festival’s attendance was 65,000 over two days and we were projecting to top 75,000 this year. We think this is the right thing to do to protect participants, staff, spectators (who come from all around the world) and our community. We will again offer full refunds to those who have already registered and paid. We will start fresh with 2022 registrations in spring of 2022,” she added.
The Springfield News-Leader reported the same day that COVID-19 cases in Greene County — where Springfield is the county seat — were up 44%. Missouri’s caseload rose nearly 50% and ranks second in the country in the disease’s spread.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that overwhelmed hospitals in southwest Missouri are seeing more coronavirus cases now than during the virus’ biggest surge last winter.
According to state data, Missouri lags behind the national average in vaccination rates. A few counties in southwest Missouri are seeing vaccination rates of 20% or lower.
UPDATE 7/13/2021: The Springfield News-Leader got a comment from the city manager from last night’s city council meeting:
“The steering committee that includes a stakeholder group, voted unanimously to cancel the festival amid the surge in COVID-19, which is a direct result of Delta variant cases,” said City Manager Jason Gage at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
“The festival is just too large and draws too many people from around the world, and the group really did not feel like they could take a chance if it overwhelmed our hospitals or contributed to the spread of the horrible variant when we know that our hospitals are just about at their peak level of occupancy.”
Assistant Director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department Katie Towns told the council that local hospitals could reach the end of their capacity as soon as next week.
Towns also said area hospitals were seeing more severe illnesses and more young people infected with the virus.
(Illustration of COVID-19 by Prochatai via Flickr)