Germany held a pop concert on Saturday to see what the coronavirus would look like.
German coVID-19 researchers have filled a component of an Leipzig stadium with volunteers, gathering knowledge in a “real” simulation of a pop music concert with strict fitness and protection controls.
Approximately 1,500 other people participated in the experiment conducted through the University of Halle Hospital, each with coronavirus tests in advance, with a negative result and dressed in a protective mask on the day.
Researchers provided each volunteer with tactile markers to record their routes in the sand and track aerosols, the small debris that the virus can bring, which they emitted as they mingle and talk. Fluorescent disinfectants were used to highlight the maximum surfaces affected during the simulated concert.
German pop singer Tim Bendzko gave the impression of being leveled to create an audience reaction as realistic as you can imagine for 3 scenarios.
Afterwards, he said he hoped the day would feel more barren and look like an experience, but the crowd at the concert.
“We had a lot of fun,” he said. “We survived the concerts behind the wheel this summer and in this sense, for us, it is a first step towards normalcy.
In the first scenario, which simulated the very beginning of a pandemic, spectators stood by in the room with no social distance. In the second, the researchers instituted hygiene measures and greater social distances among volunteers. In the third, a distance of 1.5 meters (5 feet) between the participants was strictly respected.
Stefan Moritz, who led the study, said investigators had only a third of the expected volunteers, partly because many Germans are still absent during the summer holidays and partly because of the concern to participate even with the security measures taken. But he said the experiment went well.
“We are satisfied with the figures,” he told reporters. “We have quality data.”
The effects are expected in 4 to six weeks, he said.
Overall, Germany has been praised for its control of the pandemic with its immediate reaction and physically powerful evidence. It has recorded 9267 virus deaths to date, a quarter of the number of virus deaths in Britain.
But the numbers have risen recently and the German Centers for Disease Control reported 2,034 new coVID-19 cases on Saturday, the first time the national buildup has exceeded 2,000 since the end of April.
The Robert Koch Institute said coronavirus outbreaks are reported in nursing homes, hospitals, schools and “especially among travelers and in the context of devout events or the family circle.”
“It’s very worrying,” the firm said.
All 16 German states are in the process of resuming training in schools. The potential dangers of forming virus groups in educational institutions and then spreading to families and beyond have been of great concern.
In Berlin, one of the first states to return, at least 41 schools reported this week that students had either become inflamed and many of them had been quarantined.
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