Multiple pilot events are taking place in Liverpool and across the country to test crowd safety and check what impact easing Covid-19 rules will have ahead of a full lifting of restrictions later in the year.
The pilot events are forming part of the government’s Events Research Programme (ERP), which will explore the risk of transmission and the effectiveness of measures such as ventilation and testing. The data will be analysed at four UK universities – Edinburgh, Loughborough, Liverpool and UCL as part of the ERP.
Last week at The Good Business Festival, held at the ACC Liverpool, four hundred delegates attended the UK’s first face-to-face, mask-free business conference since the start of the Covid pandemic. It is hoped the “pioneering” event will help pave the way for a return to more normal activities.
Attendees did not have to socially distance or show a vaccine certificate. Instead, they were asked to provide personal details and take a lateral-flow test beforehand and afterwards.
The event proceeded in the same manner as pre-pandemic times. Martin Fullard of Mash Media wrote on his experience, “You will be pleased to know that aside from getting myself a lateral flow Covid test 24 hours before the event, there was nothing to suggest my experience at the event was anything other than ‘normal’.” He continues, “There was no suggestion there was – or had been – a pandemic.”.
In the media briefing before the event began, Professor Iain Buchan, from the Institute of Population Health at the University of Liverpool, who was overseeing the event, made one point abundantly clear: “don’t act artificially,” he said. He and his science team wanted to see the attendees mingle without social distancing, and were encouraged to shake hands, kiss and cuddle if they so fancied (of course, if anyone wasn’t comfortable with that, there was no obligation!).
Moreover, a pilot concert in Liverpool held on Sunday saw the largest number of people to have legally crammed into such a small space in the UK since March 2020. Just as above, there were no masks, no social distancing, no rule of six and no risk of fines. Just having a good time with your mates, drinking beer, queuing for Portaloos, getting rained on – and listening to live music. Ah the good old days!
Throughout the pilot events, scientists studied audience movement and interaction, ventilation, duration, catering and alcohol consumption.
Other pilot events being monitored in the government’s research programme are the World Snooker Championships and the Brit Awards in London on 11 May.
The data gathered will be used to determine how festivals, gigs, conferences and sporting events can take place again with large audiences.
Under the government’s current roadmap 21 June is the earliest date that such events will be allowed. The findings from the pilot events will be looked at and a series of recommendations made to Government on what guidance events will need to follow post 21 June.
These recommendations won’t be presented until the week leading up to that date, as we understand.
This might mean the need for the temporary requirement of Covid-status certification: either proof of vaccination, proof of a recent negative test, or proof of natural antibodies. Or, the scientists might advise that such things aren’t needed at all, at this stage we just don’t know. It depends how feasible it is, on the grounds of both cost and practicality.
They are likely to want to see risk assessments, so organisers and venues will need to work collaboratively with local health authorities… on what exactly we don’t know yet, but that’s what has been discussed.
On matters such as ventilation, Martin Fullard writes “I will be honest when I say I think it came across as a red herring. A big modern venue with multiple access points can be well ventilated, but a converted underground bath house cannot, yet the latter is free to open for business on 21 June too.” So, expect any Government guidance to be just about vague enough to let organisers and venues make “risk assessed decisions” on their own.
It is also believed that the DCMS are interested in conducting further pilot business events between now and first week of June. No doubt these would give scientists further opportunities to study the habits of the common delegate.
We’ll keep you posted as soon as new information has been released.
Sources:
Conference News – https://www.conference-news.co.uk/coronavirus-updates-features/pilot-business-event-editors-review?fbclid=IwAR0MyhV7pzgFb5whUkdPj1alwgQvSqz7k3ra2cKXe-b1Ax6HGjr_CjqOYOE
BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-56907072
BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56962231
BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56915697
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