💧️ it's important to remember that one of the reasons COVID is so rarely cited as a reason for athletes dropping out of events or musicians cancelling shows is that COVID is often explicitly an exclusion criteria for insurance coverage. the actuaries know (they always know) but without robust consistent testing many are getting away with simply being silent on the cause of their sudden turn in health because the alternative is a complete financial loss
seriously, if you see a musician cite "summer flu" or whatever as the reason that they cancelled a show — it's COVID, they know it's COVID, they probably tested positive several times, but if they say "COVID" then they are screwed so they need to speak in euphemisms