The Sundance Film Festival has officially expanded its COVID-19 protocols according to their website yesterday. The protocols include a requirement for vaccination as well as boosters for all guests of the festival.
This arrives as the Omnicron variant continues to spread throughout the country, causing many events and businesses to adopt stricter policies. The festival, which will begin on January 20, 2022, will be a hybrid event in response to the rise in cases, with strict guidelines for the in-person aspects of the event, such as Q&As and press events.
The new guidelines require that guests wear their masks at all venues and be fully vaccinated two weeks before attending the festival. The guidelines also stipulate that, alongside being vaccinated, that all guests have also taken the booster. Guests will also need a negative COVID test 48 hours before the event in order to enter the building, which will be operating at half capacity in order to reduce crowding.
The festival will be providing free testing for both workers and attendees for the event. This will be done at specific locations around the festival, including Miners Hospital, the Galleria Parking Lot, and other locations listed on the site.
“We ask everyone to be vigilant about hand sanitizing, test often, and when outside of Festival-operated spaces to social distance when unmasked,” the site reads, “We will continue to monitor the general levels of community transmission and local COVID-19 vaccination coverage in our in-person communities, working to maximize their health safety and adjust any plans as needed for the safety of our community. Any further policy updates will be shared in early January.”
As the Omicron variant continues to spread, these guidelines will allow movie lovers to still enjoy this famous festival, giving critics and fans alike a chance to sample the upcoming blockbusters and indies that will be coming in 2022.