This weekend, an event with 1,300 attendees took place in Amsterdam as part of a COVID-19 study.
Following the Dutch government’s recent announcement that festivals may potentially return in July, the trial event took place on March 6th in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome. Research group Fieldlab Evenementen supervised the study.
Over the gathering’s four-hour runtime, guests got separated into five groups of 250 people, plus one of 50. Each group was presented with different rules. For instance, one group attended wearing mouth masks only but had to stand in their designated spot. Another one was drinking fluorescent drinks and were encouraged to sing or scream to monitor saliva spread and reach. All of them had to submit negative COVID-19 test results 48 hours before the event.
The event took place from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM in order to be compliant with an ongoing nationwide 9:00 PM to 4:30 AM curfew. In addition to that, contacts and movements had been traced the whole night.
In the coming week, all guests must take another test. The Dutch government’s advisers will use data of the recorded behavior when making decisions on whether to ease restrictions on nightlife. With U.K. festivals returning and the Netherlands potentially opening up as well, many feel that there’s light on the horizon for the global event industry.
More than a year has passed since events of 100 people or more were banned in the Netherlands.
