BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Five thousand music lovers are expected to attend a rock concert in Barcelona on Saturday, after undergoing a COVID-19 screening on the same day, to test its effectiveness in preventing virus outbreaks at major events cultural.
The Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian’s show has special permission from the Spanish health authorities. While the rest of the country is limited to meetings of a maximum of four people in closed spaces, spectators will be able to mix freely, although masks are mandatory.
People with heart disease, cancer or those who have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 in the past few weeks have been asked not to apply. Ticket buyers chose from three locations in Barcelona, where they are due to undergo a rapid antigen test on Saturday morning. Those with negative results receive a code on their cell phone validating their ticket to the show at Palau Sant Jordi in the city at 7pm.
Organizers say it is the first commercial event of this size to be held in Europe during the pandemic.
The show is sold out. Tickets, which range from 23 to 28 euros ($ 27 to 33), include the cost of the test and the high-quality face mask that is mandatory, except for eating or drinking in designated areas.
The concert is supported by local authorities and experts from the Foundation Fight against AIDS and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona, which also organized a case study around a concert of less than 500 people. in December. They said the results of that preliminary case study showed that pre-screening with antigen tests and the use of facial masks were successful in preventing infections within the show, despite the fact that there are no rules of social detachment.
“This is another small step for us to be able to hold concerts and cultural events” during the pandemic, said Dr. Boris Revollo, the virologist involved in the design of health protocols.
In addition to being 10 times bigger than the December show, this time there will be no control group kept outside the concert hall.
Instead, concertgoers agreed that public health officials can inform Revollo’s team if they contract the coronavirus in the weeks after the show. With this information, Revollo’s team will analyze the infection rates among the 5,000 spectators compared to the general population to see if there are any discrepancies that could point to contagion during the show.
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