Germany holds concerts to study virus risks

FE Team | Published: August 23, 2020 23:34:12

Volunteers enjoying a concert --Internet

BERLIN, Aug 23 (BBC): Scientists in Germany have held three pop concerts in a single day to investigate the risks posed by mass indoor events during the pandemic.
About 1,500 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 - only a third of the expected number - took part.
But the head of the study, which was carried out in Leipzig by Halle University, said he was "very satisfied" with how the event unfolded.
Singer-songwriter Tim Bendzko agreed to perform at all three successive gigs.
The study came as Germany recorded its highest number of Covid-19 infections since the end of April.
More than 2,000 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 232,082, the Robert Koch Institute reported.
The concert study, called Restart-19, was created "to investigate the conditions under which such events can be carried out despite the pandemic", researchers said.
The first of Saturday's three concerts aimed to simulate an event before the pandemic, with no safety measures in place. The second involved greater hygiene and some social distancing, while the third involved half the numbers and each person standing 1.5m apart.
All participants were tested for Covid-19 before taking part, and given face masks and tracking devices to measure their distancing. Researchers reportedly also used fluorescent disinfectants to track which surfaces audience members touched the most.
"The data collection is going very well, so we have good quality data, the mood is great and we are extremely satisfied with the discipline in wearing masks and using disinfectant," lead researcher Dr Stefan Moritz said.