With infection rates increasing in many European countries, this dream could be far from over. But some music fans in Leipzig, Germany, have had the chance to rock a day in the name of science – with the help of some glowing hand sanitizer and electronic trackers.
Researchers in the German city of Leipzig on Saturday staged an experimental indoor concert of 2,000 people to better understand how Covid-19 spreads during large, busy events, and how it can occur.
At the performance, featuring a live performance by musician Tim Bendzko, fans were given respiratory face masks, fluorescent handsets and electronic “contact trackers” – small transmitters that determine the contacts and contact distances of the participants in the individual experiment.
Participants wearing FFP2 protective face masks participated in the Covid transmission risk assessment study at a concert venue in Leipzig, Germany.
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Using contact person data, Halle University scientists will check the number of “critical contacts” each participant had at certain times and locations, while identifying the remnants of fluorescent handles often on exposed surfaces. Researchers hope to use the data to find ways to safely return large events.
Professor Michael Gekle, the dean of the university’s medical faculty and a professor of physics, told CNN that the experiment was conducted to better advise authorities on how to conduct events in the coming fall and winter seasons.
Participants wore FFP2 protective face masks during the performance.
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“We can not afford another lockdown,” he said. “We need to collect the data now to make valid predictions,” he said.
“There is no zero risk if you want to have life. We want to give politicians a tool to rationally decide whether to allow such an event or not. That means they have to have the tool to predict how many extra infected people such an event will produce, “he said.
Researchers encouraged volunteers to perform three scenarios – one that simulated a concert pre-coronavirus, a second that simulated a concert during the pandemic, with improved hygiene measures in place, and a third, with reduced participants. Scientists will collect the data, apply a mathematical model, and evaluate the hygiene interventions, with conclusions ready by the end of the year.
Singer Tim Bendzko performs for volunteers during the investigation.
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Researchers believe this is the first time an experiment of this scale has taken place in Europe, but say different considerations need to be applied, depending on the type of event, the behavior of concertgoers and whether patrons are allowed to consume alcohol.
“Obviously, a concert with Rammstein would be different,” he said.
Gekle told CNN that due to a low prevalence of the virus in the states of Saxony and Lower Saxony, participation in the study was a low risk for volunteers, who took coronavirus tests 48 hours before participating and wore masks during the show. . “It’s safer than flying to Mallorca,” he said.
The number of coronavirus infections in Germany has been rising since the end of July. On Saturday, the country saw its highest number of daily infections since April 26, with 2,034 new cases of Covid-19, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country’s center for disease and control.
The experiment may have been controlled, but for some in the crowd – despite the lack of alcohol – it felt like a return to normalcy.
Participants took a coronavirus test before being allowed to enter the study, and were checked on arrival temperature.
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“This was our first real applause of months in public,” Bendzko told CNN. “The atmosphere is surprisingly good – it almost felt like a real concert.
“I wish it could possibly play at big concerts again sometime soon,” he said. “But we all understand that we now have to live with the virus and we have to take a certain risk.”
Elli Blesz, 20, from Leipzig, told CNN: “The atmosphere was really great, we all enjoyed the music – it was fun to listen to live music after six months.”
And Kira Stuetz, a 26-year-old student who attended the concert with her husband, said, “It was a little crazy.” Recalling one of the pre-coronavirus simulations, where members of the public sat together, she said that “at first it felt almost wrong that all people came so close together. We thought this was a dream “, because it’s not allowed to sit so close together! But then it was really cool. I could not believe we were at a real concert again!”
Organizers around the world have dipped their toes into the water to see when and how live events can be brought back to a world still suffering from the coronavirus pandemic – in the UK, event organizers are testing concerts at a open, socially remote concert hall, where patrons sat in small groups on distant, elevated platforms.
Nadine Schmidt reported from Leipzig, Germany. Amy Woodyatt wrote from London.
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