Partygoers Still Crowd Clubs Amid Pandemic in São Paulo

Financial ruin leads professionals to promote nights that disregard measures against the coronavirus

São Paulo

On the same weekend that Brazil reached 120,000 deaths from coronavirus, music producers in São Paulo invited their contacts to an unforgettable party.

"We will not stop creating our vibe this weekend. More than that, we will make an event that will mark the best vibe of this 'quarantine'!" The night would start at a factory in Ipiranga and extend to a nightclub pool the next morning.

Those who live in São Paulo, the city with the most deaths caused by the coronavirus, and want to enjoy a dance floor without a mask, party as if there was no pandemic, have no trouble discovering parties on social networks.

Financial ruin leads professionals to promote nights that disregard measures against the coronavirus. (Foto: Ale Ruaro/Folhapress)

From the outskirts to Jardins, nightclubs in São Paulo announce electronic music, funk, hip-hop, and pagode parties on Instagram and Facebook.

One of the solutions designed by establishments to reopen following government measures was to promote lively dinners, in which a group of friends book a table and can enjoy, sitting, the set of a DJ, as in the case of Sutton, restaurant and bar on Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima frequented by wealthy people. The problem is that many of the customers break the rules, turning the dinner into a party.

The party circuit for high-income audiences also includes electronic music parties in an abandoned shed in Brás, the traditional address for techno and house events before the quarantine.

Nightclubs have been closed since mid-March when the government decreed the first quarantine in the state. Almost six months later, events with people standing and other activities with large crowds are still prohibited, causing immense economic damage to the events sector. Clubs and nightclubs can only function as a bar or restaurant.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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