An Increasing Number Of Attendees At Psy’s “Summer Swag” Show Are Testing Positive For COVID

South Korea is once again seeing a surge in COVID cases with the daily count reaching 100,000. In the middle of this crisis, Psy‘s “Splash Show” concerts are seemingly posing a threat to public health.

Currently, Psy is touring different cities in South Korea for his Splash Show – 2022 Summer Swag concerts. The show’s concept is to splash the audience with water as the singer performs on stage. Psy has been doing these summer-special concerts for a while but had to pause it in 2019 due to COVID-19.

This year, though the show resumed, people were skeptical of it for two reasons. Firstly, the concert uses almost 300 ton of water, and South Korea is facing severe droughts this year. Secondly, the risk of transmitting COVID at such an event is very high.

Since wet masks make the risk of COVID transmission higher, earlier in June, the quarantine authorities advised not to hold shows that involve the audience getting wet.

But Psy’s concert organizers assured people that they had taken all the necessary precautions to make sure the audience’s safety. Apart from disinfecting the entire venue, they also promised to provide a waterproof mask and three KF94 masks to each attendee.

P NATION responding to Im Suk Young, the head of Central Disease Contol who ask the organizer to recheck the measures on #PSY upcoming concert.

P Nation stated they will provide 3 KF94 masks + 1 waterproof mask during concert, as well as disinfecting the venue. #KoreanUpdates VF pic.twitter.com/47SxWtMebD

— KoreanUpdates! (@KoreanUpdates) June 22, 2022

Despite these efforts, more and more people are complaining about testing positive for COVID after attending the show. Psy held three shows in Seoul from July 15 to July 17, with a cumulative audience of 100,000. Though the organizers did provide the masks, and Psy kept warning people to keep their masks up, people are saying that even double-masking was no help. Younger people in the audience inevitably took off their masks to click pictures.

Netizens are calling out the attendees, saying that they went to the concert knowing the risk. Most of them seem to agree that it was an expected development and the audience should be held accountable for their choice.

In the face of the growing number of COVIDpositive cases among the attendees, the Central Disease Control Headquarters have decided to launch an investigation. They have also urged people to stick to COVID regulations for outdoor activities.