Are you ready to take on venues again? To listen to your favourite bands live? Or buy a ticket to your favourite comedian’s show? The world may get to know very soon if venues can start opening their doors again safely, as a concert hall in Barcelona is set to be the first venue worldwide to operate a test-on-entry system this month.
The announcement was made this early October 4th by President of the Association of Concert Halls of Catalonia, Lluís Torrents. Torrents also made the official announcement alongside a doctor from Can Ruti hospital in Barcelona, Boris Revollo. The two stated that a 1,000-person trial concert would take place later this month.The trial will consist of a few rules and regulations. Before entering, attendees will be given rapid coronavirus testing at Can Ruti venue. Upon entering, as long as they have zero symptoms, and provide a negative test results the attendees can drink alcohol and no social distancing restrictions will be in place. However, masks and alcoholic gel sanitisers will be mandatory.
“…it will be the first time that massive antigen tests are used to assess whether a person can participate in an event with a large number of people, and thus reactivate a part of the economy.”
Boris Revollo
Torrents states that partaking in this test will analyze what the interactivity is in a closed and confined space. People will be singing and dancing along to a concert and from there they will see if there has been any kind of transmission or not. While both Spain and Italy were among the earliest and worst-hit countries during the initial COVID-19 pandemic, along with the resurgence of illegal raves during this time, it may be possible to bring back live music safely and securely through test-on-entry systems that ensure no transmission can take place within the venue.