POP EVIL Cancels Denver Concert After 'Team' Member Tests Positive For COVID-19

POP EVIL has canceled its show tonight (Sunday, August 15) at The Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado after an undisclosed member of the band's "team" tested positive for COVID-19.

POP EVIL shared the news of the cancelation in a statement posted on social media. The band wrote: "Dear Denver, one of the members of our team has tested positive for COVID-19. Out of concern for everyone in our organization and the safety of our fans, we will be postponing tonight's show. We will test again tomorrow to determine the status of our upcoming shows."

In the past couple of weeks, a number of high-profile hard rock and heavy metal artists — including KORN, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson, TESLA, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, SHINEDOWN and LIMP BIZKIT — have called off shows or played concerts without members who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The cancelations and the increased number of COVID-19 infections are driven in large part by the fact that the delta variant of the coronavirus, now the most common strain circulating in the United States, has a supercharged transmissibility, driven in part by how the mutated virus behaves in the body after infection.

New variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 illness are spreading in the United States and other countries. Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most variants. However, some variants might cause illness in some people after they are fully vaccinated.

According to Healthline, data so far suggests efficacy rates against the delta variant of more than 67 percent for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 72 to 95 percent for the Moderna vaccine, and 64 to 96 percent for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Even though vaccines offer different ranges of protection, experts say getting fully vaccinated is crucial.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier in the month that while vaccinated people can carry and spread the virus in what is known as "breakthrough infections," people largely driving the current surge were unvaccinated.

As the virus spreads, it can mutate and create more dangerous variants. Consequently, "there could be a variant that's lingering out there that can push aside delta," Fauci said.