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Burning Man 2022 festival figure in the desert

Burning Man 2022 ends with eight-hour traffic jam and reports of a spike in COVID cases

07 September 2022, 10:03 | Written by Cerys Kenneally
(News)

Burning Man returned for the first time since the pandemic last week, and according to reports, the desert festival ended with huge, eight-hour traffic queues and a reports of a surge in new COVID cases.

On Monday (5 September) the first Burning Man festival since the pandemic started came to a close, and after attendees had to battle through a huge sandstorm earlier in the festival, they also faced apocalyptic traffic queues lasting over eight hours to exit the Black Rock Desert in Gerlach, Nevada.

There's also a clip going viral of the returning Mad Max Thunderdome-inspired fight where festival-goers were put in harnesses and pushed towards one another with foam batons.

It also looks like attendees experienced a spike in COVID cases at the desert festival, with campers posting about people testing positive during the event in the Burning Man subreddit, and others warning people to be extra careful.

It's currently unclear how many new COVID cases are linked to Burning Man 2022.

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