Illnesses among January Sundance attendees could have been COVID-19

COVID-19 may have been circulating in Utah as early as January, according to Dr. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist, who addressed reports of illnesses among Sundance Film Festival attendees during a recent press conference. A number of the 120,000 people who attended the Jan. 23- Feb. 2 event showed symptoms similar to those reported for the novel coronavirus.

“It is definitely possible that COVID-19 was circulating at Sundance,” said Dunn.

She said the health department at the time worked closely with Sundance planners and Summit County to set up screening and education for all Sundance visitors about symptoms. “At that point, we hadn’t had any cases and so we were really just monitoring symptoms,” she said.