The mayor of Chicago is facing criticism for attending the 'super-spreader' four-day Lollapalooza music festival, despite threatening to introduce a new lockdown if Covid-19 cases rise following the event.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was also slammed for going ahead with the festival after an infectious disease expert warned 'lots of people' would contract the virus.
Lollapalooza saw an estimated 100,000 attending the four-day event daily for the 30th anniversary celebrations in Chicago's Grant Park.
Concert-goers had to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from 72 hours prior, and on the opening day - Thursday - Lollapalooza officials said that over 90 percent of attendees presented proof of a vaccination.
Around 600 people were not allowed to enter the festival due to lack of paperwork, organizers said.
Lightfoot appeared on the music stage and told the huge - largely maskless - crowd: 'Thank you for masking up and vaxing up.'
Many criticised the Chicago mayor for not only approving the 'super-spreader event' but also for attending the festival and appearing backstage without a face mask on while taking pictures with celebrities.
But Kate Le Furgy, the Director of Communications for the Chicago Mayor's office, defended Lightfoot and said she was outside while not wearing a face mask and was fully vaccinated.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is facing criticism for attending the 'super-spreader' four-day Lollapalooza music festival, despite threatening to introduce a new lockdown if Covid-19 cases rise following the event
Lollapalooza saw an estimated 100,000 attending the four-day event daily for the 30th anniversary celebrations in Chicago's Grant Park
The Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, pictured on Saturday, has drawn crowds of 100,000 people every day. Attendees are asked to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at the entrance, but health officials still fear a surge in cases in the coming weeks as a result of the gathering
Tripple Redd performs on stage on Saturday. The third day of the festival was headlined by Megan Thee Stallion, Journey and Limp Bizkit
'Will @chicagosmayor Lightfoot be blamed for approving a #COVID19 super-spreader event this weekend -- @lollapalooza, three days of music euphoria with a huge, mask-less crowd?' journalist Laurie Garrett tweeted.
Retired Department of Defense operative Tony Shaffer said: 'Wow - COVID is the most intelligent virus ever in history - it will wait for @LoriLightfoot to get the City of Chicago all sorts of tax revenue before it becomes super dangerous and transmissible!'
Reporter Julio Rausseo commented on Lightfoot's apparent hypocrisy tweeting 'According to @klefurgy, it's not a big deal since @chicagosmayor is backstage @lollapalooza. What's odd is, the mayor is masked outdoors with the general public but not with the boujie celebrities.'
It comes after Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told NBC Chicago: 'I think a lot of people are going to get COVID at Lollapalooza.
'The real problem is not so much that a bunch of young people who come into Chicago getting COVID at this event. The real problem is them taking it back to places that have very low vaccination rates.'
Lightfoot has previously threatened to introduce strict lockdown measures if the daily case rate rises above 200.
She told The New York Times: 'Well, look, if we get back into an area where we feel like we're in a red zone, which we are working very hard to make sure that our daily case rate is below 200, if we start to see consistently going over that, we're not only going to look at a mask mandate, but
