Unpopular opinion: outdoor parties are a harm reduction strategy for covid19

Yes, the optics are bad. Dozens - hundreds - maybe upwards of thousands of young people gathering in loose groups outdoors that turn into tighter crowds as the night falls. They're way too close together and they're a huge nuisance.

But it's been over a year since young people have been banned from indoor gatherings, which are by far how covid19 spreads. They're pent up, frustrated and feel incredibly villified, while making sacrifices on behalf of older citizens, who are then (understandly and correctly, from a public health perspective) prioritized for treatment and vaccination.

Meanwhile, outdoor transmission rates are incredibly low. Five studies in their analysis determined that less than 10% of reported global SARS-CoV-2 infections have occurred outdoors and that the odds of indoor transmission were 18.7 times higher in comparison to outdoor transmission (95% CI, 6-57.9).

It's not ideal, but I actually think outdoor parties are a decent harm reduction strategy - kinda like safe injection sites for drug users. It's way better than driving the social activity underground/indoors, where harm is likely a lot greater.

Just to be clear, even before the pandemic, I wasn't going to parties and clubs, so I haven't taken a huge hit mentally in terms of social gatherings (hooray video games). But I can see a lot of my extroverted friends suffering. Most of them are complying with PHOs but they're at various stages of breaking points.