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        <title><![CDATA[4,000 volunteers needed to study how COVID-19 spreads at concerts]]></title>
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            <media:title type="html">4,000 volunteers needed to study how COVID-19 spreads at concerts</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Your body may not survive, but rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll never dies.</p><p>Contact tracers in Germany are asking 4,000 brave music fans to attend an upcoming concert for the sake of science. The cohort of concertgoers will be there to watch Euro-pop singer Tim Bendzko, but their presence in the crowded indoor arena will serve the fight against the <strong>coronavirus</strong>.</p><p>Although most of Bendzko&#8217;s &#8220;Bin Ich Ja Hier&#8221; (&#8220;Now I Am Here&#8221;) tour has been postponed until next summer — much to the chagrin of his <strong>192,000 Instagram followers</strong> —&nbsp;his show on Aug. 22 will serve as part of a study dubbed <strong>RESTART-19</strong>, or &#8220;risk prediction of indoor sport and culture events for the transmission of COVID-19.&#8221;</p><p>Organized by researchers at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, the aim of the experiment is to analyze how a viral pathogen spreads in a packed, indoor space. With that information, they hope to &#8220;identify a framework&#8221; for how large events could be conducted &#8220;without posing a danger for the population.&#8221;</p><p>Stefan Moritz, event coordinator and head of infectious diseases at the university&#8217;s hospital, <strong>told The Guardian:</strong>&nbsp;&#8220;We are trying to find out if there could be a middle way between the old and the new normal that would allow organizers to fit enough people into a concert venue to not make a [financial] loss.&#8221;</p><p>Study participants, aged between 18 and 50, will be required to carry pocket-sized &#8220;contact tracer&#8221; devices that will track their every move during the show. Once inside, they will also be asked to disinfect their hands with a sanitizer made of a fluorescent solution. The residue left on their hands, and subsequently rubbed off on doorknobs, bar counters and toilet handles, will later glow under UV lights as scientists peruse the 12,000-seat Leipzig music hall for the surfaces that see the most human contact.</p><p>Masks fashioned with an exhalation valve will also be provided and required to enter. Organizers say the measure will make their odds of infection &#8220;extremely slim,&#8221; though their safety against the virus is not guaranteed.</p><p>Researchers assure that they have no intent on tracking an actual viral spread. Rather, the experiment serves as a simulation for how and where individuals could come into contact with the coronavirus. To prevent such a disaster, all participants will be take two COVID-19 tests, one conducted at home and the other with a doctor, two days prior to the event. Those who can&#8217;t prove their tests returned negative will not be admitted.</p><p>As of Monday, 775 people have already volunteered. Scientists will divide the participants into three groups, each of which will be asked to play out a different scenario of varying levels of social distance, including one where they won&#8217;t be distanced at all.</p><p>Back in May, <strong>America&#8217;s first socially-distant concert</strong> took place at 20% capacity in Arkansas, with masked concertgoers seated in chairs arranged 6 feet apart during Bishop Gunn frontman Travis McCready’s performance.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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