Screening before music concerts and mass sport events
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Screening for SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Before a Live Indoor Music Concert: An Observational Study On the day of the event, a team of 74 nurses performed Ag-RDTs for all attendees. The use of filtering facepiece 2 masks was mandatory. Singing and dancing were allowed, and no physical distancing was required. All attendees were located on the central floor of the stadium, which was at full capacity. Of the 5000 Ag-RDT–screened individuals, 6 (prevalence, 120 cases per 100 000 persons) tested positive and were not allowed to enter the concert, as well as 2 of their close contacts despite testing negative. The final analysis included 4584 attendees. Six attendees (1 man and 5 woman; median age, 36 years [range, 27 to 46 years]), none of whom were vaccinated, were diagnosed with COVID-19 within the 2 weeks after the concert (median, 8.5 days [range, 4 to 12 days]). Three of them had been located in the front-right area of the stadium and 3 in the front left. Of these 6 persons, 3 were identified in contact-tracing studies of known index cases who had not attended the concert; therefore, their contagion was unlikely to occur during the event. One woman who participated in the event was oligosymptomatic, though she tested negative in the pre-event Ag-RDT screening and again 48 hours after the event; 4 days after the concert, COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed by PCR testing. Therefore, she presumably attended the event during the incubation period. The transmission source of the 2 remaining cases could not be identified. Our results build on our previously reported clinical trial data (2) and suggest that the implementation of same-day Ag-RDT screening, use of face masks, and improved ventilation can prevent high rates of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in indoor mass-gathering live concerts without physical distancing. These findings must be read in the context of a case study conducted in a community with low vaccination rates and a moderate infection rate.
Screening before music concerts and mass sport events
Screening before music concerts and mass…
Screening before music concerts and mass sport events
Screening for SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Before a Live Indoor Music Concert: An Observational Study On the day of the event, a team of 74 nurses performed Ag-RDTs for all attendees. The use of filtering facepiece 2 masks was mandatory. Singing and dancing were allowed, and no physical distancing was required. All attendees were located on the central floor of the stadium, which was at full capacity. Of the 5000 Ag-RDT–screened individuals, 6 (prevalence, 120 cases per 100 000 persons) tested positive and were not allowed to enter the concert, as well as 2 of their close contacts despite testing negative. The final analysis included 4584 attendees. Six attendees (1 man and 5 woman; median age, 36 years [range, 27 to 46 years]), none of whom were vaccinated, were diagnosed with COVID-19 within the 2 weeks after the concert (median, 8.5 days [range, 4 to 12 days]). Three of them had been located in the front-right area of the stadium and 3 in the front left. Of these 6 persons, 3 were identified in contact-tracing studies of known index cases who had not attended the concert; therefore, their contagion was unlikely to occur during the event. One woman who participated in the event was oligosymptomatic, though she tested negative in the pre-event Ag-RDT screening and again 48 hours after the event; 4 days after the concert, COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed by PCR testing. Therefore, she presumably attended the event during the incubation period. The transmission source of the 2 remaining cases could not be identified. Our results build on our previously reported clinical trial data (2) and suggest that the implementation of same-day Ag-RDT screening, use of face masks, and improved ventilation can prevent high rates of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in indoor mass-gathering live concerts without physical distancing. These findings must be read in the context of a case study conducted in a community with low vaccination rates and a moderate infection rate.