Scientists held a concert with 1,500 people to see what would happen.
Everyone wants to know when we will get back to normal. Many people think this won’t happen until a surefire protective measure for COVID-19 is available worldwide. Unfortunately, experts predict a coronavirus vaccine will not be widely available until sometime in the spring of 2021 and in the meantime, sports organizations, concertgoers, and musicians are biting at the bit. They are eager to find a way to gather in large groups. And they want to do it without putting people’s lives on the line for a few frolicking hours of entertainment.
Who else has wanted this? Scientists from Europe, apparently.
Researchers from the University of Halle in Germany got 1,500 volunteers together at an indoor stadium in mid-August to see what would happen. They did it in the city of Leipzig by simulating a concert experience in the name of viral research. The goal was to understand exactly how COVID-19 spreads at mass gatherings, and learn if it is somehow possible to stop it.
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What happened was a rather simple event. German singer-songwriter Tim Bendzko played and sang for an eager audience that was happy to cheer and sing along. Fans were given FFP2 respiratory masks to wear, which are said to filter up to 94% of aerosols. Participants also used fluorescent hand gel to see what they touched, and electronic COVID-19 contact trackers. These devices acted as transmitters that recorded the rate of contact between participants and how close they came to each other.
And that was about it. Researchers are now analyzing the data collected. They want to see how many volunteers created “critical contacts” with each other, and when and where this happened. Scientists are also now looking at which surfaces ended up being covered in the colorful fluorescent hand gel during the concert.
Professor Michael Gekle, who studies physiology and is the dean of medicine at the University of Halle said to CNN,
“We want to give the politicians a tool in order to decide rationally whether to allow such an event or not. That means they have to have the tool to predict how many additional infected people such an event will produce.”
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The study’s results should be known by late December 2020, and they can’t come anytime too soon. In the US, Professional baseball is currently playing to empty, fanless stadiums due to the pandemic. (Canada’s Toronto Blue Jays are playing in the US, but not hosting any games in Toronto. Canadian health officials don’t think it’s safe for the team to travel back and forth over the border with the virus raging in the US).
NCAA basketball games are also going forth without anyone watching in person. NFL football games in some cities will go forth with fans but at a greatly reduced capacity (about 25%). In others, the stands will be empty. In-person concerts have been on hold for months and there is not a conference to be seen from here to Siberia.
So, we wait and hope. Let’s see what those German scientists find out. We can all benefit from their newfound knowledge, and hopefully someone will get to see something exciting outside their living room before March.
photo credits: Goran Djukanovic/Shutterstock.com
