No evidence of Covid-19 transmissions at 5.000-strong concert in Barcelona

Exactly one month ago, 5.000 people attended a Love of Lesbian gig at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi—the first large concert in over a year. And although spectators were not required to remain seated or socially distanced, they did have to provide proof of a negative antigen test and wear FFP2 masks as part of an experiment conducted by Festivals per la Cultura Segura and Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol.

A month later, and after tracking Covid-19 cases and contagions amongst the 5.000 concert-goers, the pilot test organizers have determined that the gig was not a superspreader event in results that could have implications for future Covid-time festivals in Barcelona and beyond.

All in all, only 6 people tested positive within two weeks following the concert—the equivalent of an incidence rate of 131 cases per 100.000 inhabitants when at the same time, Catalonia’s overall rate was 259. Of these 6 cases, medical professionals have been able to establish that 4 were not infected at the 27 March event, while the origin of the other 2 remains undetermined.