TORONTO -- A preliminary study out of Spain indicates that indoor concerts and other mass events can be safe with the help of rapid testing and with standard public health measures in place.
The research, published on Thursday in The Lancet and funded by the Spanish concert company Primavera Sound Group, found that indoor concerts provide no additional risk of contractingCOVID-19 provided organizers implement the use of rapid testing before the event, along with mask wearing and proper ventilation.
For the study, the researchers invited around 1,000 people to a five-hour concert with four musical acts in Barcelona on Dec. 12, a time when case numbers in Spain were low, indoor gatheringsin the country were limited to six people, and vaccines were not yet available.
Each of the participants were tested for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests, which provides results in about 30 minutes. Once tested, half of the participants were told to go home and serve as a control, while the others were allowed into the venue for the concert.
Once inside, the remaining 465 participants were given an N95 mask to wear for the duration of the concert. The participants were allowed to sing and dance as they pleased and there was no enforcement of physical distancing.
There were separate areas for drinks and smoking, where crowd control measures and physical distancing requirements were enforced.
Infollow-up testing of all participants eight days after the concert, not a single person who went inside tested positive for COVID-19, while two people who were sent home tested positive for COVID-19. According to the researchers, these low numbers suggest that there was no added risk to attending the event, compared to those who went home.
“Our study provides early evidence that indoor music events can take place without raising the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission when comprehensive safety measures are in place,” Dr. Josep Llibre of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital and lead author of the study, said in a news release.
“It is important that our findings are considered in light of the situation in Spain at the time – when cases were not high and many restrictions were in place, As a result, our study does not necessarily mean that all mass events are safe.”
The researchers added that the rapid testing played an important role in making sure everyone was safe.
“In our study, lateral flow tests were around 99.9 (per cent) accurate at detecting negative results, as confirmed by PCR testing, and their short-turnaround time may make them more appropriate for screening at mass-gathering events,” said Cristina Casan, one of the study’s co-authors, from the Catalan Health Institute.
“Other tests that work by detecting the virus’ genetic material can also detect residual virus even when not transmissible. These tests could result in positive results that would prevent people who aren’t infectious from attending events.”
While the research is promising news for fans of live music and live sporting events, the researchers also found that the preventative measures they had in place may not be reasonable in the real-world, as they can be cost prohibitive and present some logistical challenges.
The researchers also noted that they’re study is limited in that the attendees may have been acting differently than they would at a normal concert, because they knew they were being watched and studied. The participants did not indicate as such in a post-concert questionnaire, however.
The vaccine rollout, the emergence of COVID-19 variants and different infection rates at the local level would all have an impact on the results if the study was conducted again, the researchers added.
“Future trials done in different scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic should confirm their safety and characterise the contribution of each of the preventive measures undertaken within the comprehensive intervention,” the study states. “Our findings pave the way to reactivate cultural activities halted during COVID-19, which could have important sociocultural and economic implications.”
