Two German states engaged scientists to stage a live concert indoors and test the likelihood of COVID-19 infection. The New York Times reports that more than 1,400 mask-wearing volunteers attended. If we are going to stage large events in closed environments, how likely is the virus to spread and what would minimize the risks?
In order for the researchers to determine what would most likely spread the virus and at what event locations it would most spread, the researchers gave the volunteers–all of whom tested negative for the virus–tracking devices to wear. They were also given hand disinfectant with fluorescent dye.
Over the course of ten hours, the volunteers were seated in different configurations at a concert. In one experiment, they were packed together, in another they were separated by a few seats, and, in yet another, they were at a good distance from one another. With each experiment, the volunteers listened to the concert, and they could move around, to buy food and apparel or use the bathroom, as they pleased.
The researchers could track how frequently volunteers were near one another and the surfaces they touched most, based on the fluorescent disinfectant, which left a mark. Because the novel coronavirus is assumed to spread through particles in the air, the researchers used a smoke machine to see how a cloud of fog would spread.
The researchers are trying to determine where the greatest risks of virus spread is. For example, are the risks greatest at the entrance to the event, or in the seats, or the public bathrooms? No experiment of this sort has been done before.
The researchers plan to draft protocols to minimize risks of spreading the virus at live performances. The issue is whether and how concert venues can reopen in a way that is economically viable and safe for concertgoers. In the US, experts say that concert halls should not reopen until there is a vaccine.
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