[rhythmic clapping]
♪♪
-During the coronavirus pandemic,
images of crowded venues are usually circulated
for one of two reasons.
Either as a wishful memory or to document excessive parties.
No social distancing, no masks, potential super-spreader events,
as health professionals call them.
-Today I'm going to attend an event
that belongs in neither category.
I'm on my way to Leizig, a city in eastern Germany,
where researchers have invited thousands of people
to a concert hall, in the name of science.
♪♪
-Their goal?
To solve a question leaders around the world
are grappling with.
I'm Rick Noak, and I'm a foreign affairs reporter
with The Washington Post.
Since the novel coronavirus reached Europe,
I've reported from a Polish campaign rally,
where the presidential candidate shook hands,
even as cases there were rising.
At a German primary school, I witnessed teachers
doing everything they can to keep their students safe.
All of those efforts, though,
very much look like trial-and-error.
But that's not very much of a surprise,
given how many things we still don't understand
about the coronavirus.
Today, I'm invited to observe the world's
perhaps biggest attempt so far, to understand
what exactly happens when a large crowd of people meets
in the middle of a pandemic.
-And surprisingly, what we're going to witness today
is being co-organized by one of Germany's university hospitals.
Officials there say the potential benefits
outweigh the risks.
To keep participants safe, in advance,
everyone attending the concert had to test negative
for the coronavirus, including me.
On the day of the experiment, around 1,400 participants
arrived on site early in the morning.
That's less than half of what the organizers had hoped for.
But they tell me that they're still going ahead.
They will use computer technology to artificially
multiply the crowd size later on.
Participants have been asked to leave their cars miles away
and take a tram to the concert hall.
Both the trams and the concert hall are equipped with sensors.
Each participant is wearing a tracking device
that will allow researchers to later compute how much
each of them were exposed to other participants.
Researchers will also use ultraviolet light
and disinfectant with fluorescent substances to expose
to surfaces being touched most frequently by participants.
The concert hall, it quickly starts to get really crowded.
-It's really quite strange.
it does look a lot like a pre-pandemic event.
People there are queuing for German sausages, getting coffee.
But what reminds you that this is a pandemic is, of course,
that a lot of people here are wearing masks and there is staff
walking around reminding everyone to put them on.
-Participants have different expectations.
-Are you nervous about the experiment, I mean,
being so close to so many people again,
for, like, a full day in one big room?
-For me, I'm not. You? -A bit.
Because I need to work, too, for Monday, so.
-We're not scared. -Okay.
-I think the health system in Germany is good enough
where if we're gonna get it, so we're gonna get it.
-Yeah, I'm not nervous, but my sister she always said,
"Oh, no, you're coming back with corona, to home."
But, no, I am not.
Because everyone took a test two days before,
so I think it will be safe.
-It's a new experience.
Nobody knows how it's going to work
and how close we're gonna get with each other
and what other consequences.
But I think it's a good thing to test it out.
-Equipped with their tracking devices,
the crowd started rushing indoors.
They will all go through three different scenarios.
In the first one, they pretend as if COVID-19 never happened.
No social distancing required, it's a strange feeling.
-♪ Let's finish out here ♪
♪ Outside, outside ♪
♪ Let's finish out here ♪
-To explain to participants why this kind of experiment
is so important, organizers use a fog machine
to simulate the spread of aerosols inside the arena.
Watching the fog spreading across the arena
seems to be unsettling to many who are sitting
in the middle of it.
-I would prefer more open air, actually.
But right now, it was weird with the masks.
And if I wouldn't know that everyone took a corona test,
I would have been very scared,
because everyone was so close together.
-In the second scenario,
social distancing measures limit exposure.
-♪ The lights ♪
♪ Put them out tonight ♪
♪ Realize, realize ♪
♪ Put them out tonight ♪
-Now some people feel safe enough
to get up from their chairs,
even though that's actually prohibited.
-The main problem with the mask and breathing through the mask,
in a concert you want to sing and you want to move
and that's not gonna happen.
As, with a mask, you can't sing, properly.
So it's not as easy as it seems.
It's like a sport. -Yeah.
-And your mask broke? -Yes, it's broke.
-But you're gonna get a new one. -He's gonna get a new one, yeah.
-Yeah.
-And in the third scenario,
participants are spread out across the arena.
Allowing an extreme version of social distancing.
♪♪
[cheers and applause]
♪♪
[cheers and applause]
-There was still good atmosphere, actually.
And you could stand up and dance
and don't go too close to another person.
So it was actually quite nice, so I liked that.
It was not too weird.
I thought it was weird, but it wasn't.
♪♪
-The scenarios mirror on a grand scale what many organizers
of smaller events, for owners of restaurants
and cafes have already done in recent months --
making space and keeping people socially distanced.
-Not just as a scientist, but also as someone, you know,
who probably enjoys going to events yourself, I mean,
what do you hope this can achieve?
-I hope that this study will help to keep
the joy of life up around the world.
You need, sort of, these events
so that life is worthwhile living.
We can help to restore sports events, cultural events,
and that's what we need.
When I discussed the issue last week with some colleagues,
a few from South Korea, then I told them well,
we are doing this sort of experiment.
I think they thought we are crazy.
That we dared to do such an experiment,
but I think it's necessary.
-The Leizig researchers say other scientists
from around the world have also inquired about
how to do similar studies in their own countries.
Artist Tim Bendzko, the singer who performed
in the Leizig Concert Hall said any new insights
that could help restart concerts would be welcome.
-We, and probably the entire event industry,
would be fine with almost anything that can get us
a bit closer to normality.
We, on stage, and the audience, we are all called upon
and need to make some compromises.
It'll probably take some time until we can feel exactly
the way we did last year,
but what's important is that we come together again.
For us as a band, the performance [just now]
was a surprisingly nice experience.
Surprising, because we assumed
it would feel a bit more sterile.
♪♪
-In the coming weeks, the results of the tests
will be analyzed and compiled for a report
that's due to be published in October.
♪♪
But the longer the pandemic lasts,
the more companies and countries are running out or patience
and are taking new risks.
Giving the Leizig experiment more urgency.
♪♪
[cheers and applause]
[singing in German]