After the holidays and a Bad Bunny show, COVID-19 rates in Puerto Rico rise by 4,600%

Despite having executed a successful vaccination campaign, the holiday season – coupled with a super-spreader concert – has led to a surge in new COVID-19 infections in Puerto Rico.

According to The New York Times, after Bad Bunny performed before 60,000 people at San Juan’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn, roughly 2,000 new infections were reported by local health authorities.

The concert, as well as business events, company holiday parties and family get togethers, ultimately contributed to a 4,600 percent increase in cases in Puerto Rico.

“We did so well; we followed the rules,” 53-year-old Laura Delgado, who was at the concert, said. “We followed the mask mandate. Our vaccination rate was so high that we let our guard down. The second Christmas came, we were like, ‘We’re going to party!’”

Although the Island’s government has attempted to implement measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, Harvard University statistician Rafael Irizarry tweeted that one-third of Puerto Rico's COVID-19 cases throughout the entirety of the pandemic occurred in the last month.

Sobre 100,000 casos detectados en diciembre 2021.

Un tercio (33%) de todos los casos detectados en Puerto Rico durante toda la pandemia han sido en este último mes. pic.twitter.com/2oqyeLS8m4

— Rafael Irizarry (@rafalab) December 30, 2021

Reportedly, hospitalizations on the island doubled twice in December and the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University reported a record high testing positivity rate of more than 20 percent and 47,008 new cases in the past week.

Currently, 74.45 percent of Puerto Rico's population is fully vaccinated.