In a surreal yet ‘necessary’ development, the Germany government approved a scientific study that allowed more than 4000 people to attend three concerts across the country in a bid to investigate COVID-19 infections in such public gatherings.
Germany recorded more than 2 000 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 232 082.
The country is desperate to understand the nature of infections and the contribution of such gatherings in the recent spike of infections.
Halle University rounded up over 4,000 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 this Saturday to attend three pop concerts – called Restart-19 – that took place on three occasions in Leipzig.
It is also believed the study is set to “to investigate the conditions under which such events can be carried out despite the pandemic”.
Three scenarios, with three different types of audiences, were set up, and Tim Bendzko, a pop star performed in all the three events.
All the participants were tested for Covid-19, and given face masks and tracking devices to measure their distancing.
The first group was set to simulate an event before the pandemic, the second with greater hygiene and a little bit of social distancing while the third had half of the total number of participants with each person standing 1.5m apart.
The success of the study will also pave the way for the resumption of major indoor sporting and music events – that have been critically paralyzed by the pandemic – by ascertaining realistic levels of risk.
The first group was set to simulate an event before the pandemic, the second with greater hygiene and a little bit of social distancing while the third had half of the total number of participants with each person standing 1.5m apart.
The success of the study will also pave the way for the resumption of major indoor sporting and music events – that have been critically paralyzed by the pandemic – by ascertaining realistic levels of risk.
