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"Unethical human experiment": outrage over the hygiene concept at the jazz festival in Dresden - because of "voluntary infection groups"

2020-10-27T17:12:15.800Z


"Unethical human experiment": The hygiene concept of a music event in Dresden outraged Corona experts. A conspiracy theorist also spoke at the event.


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Image detail from a video: Hardly any distance, almost no masks

Photo: OstsachsenTV / Youtube

The entertainment industry has been going through a difficult time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

Concert organizers in particular are struggling with the requirements.

In order for musicians to be allowed to perform at all, the organizers not only have to create elaborate hygiene concepts for live shows and obtain approval.

Due to the distance rules, the spectators are also not allowed to sit as close together as usual.

So many places remain free - that means massive sales losses.

But this does not seem to apply to the "Jazztage Dresden 2020", which has been running since last Wednesday.

Recordings of a presentation by the organizer in the Ostra-Dome, an event location near the Elbe, appeared on the YouTube video platform.

In it he announces a lecture in front of a crowded hall.

Almost nobody keeps their distance, hardly anyone wears a mask and people sit together as if there had never been Corona in Dresden.

But the post actually comes from last Sunday.

To classify: Dresden had the second highest value in the state of Saxony on Monday with over 461 new corona infections, the 7-day incidence was 83 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and thus clearly in the red.

Saxony also reported a sharp increase in intensive care patients.

Accordingly, the post on YouTube garnered indignant comments.

"Why don't you have a hygiene concept?" Asks a user.

However, there is even one.

A regional newspaper had even praised "Jazztage" boss Kilian Forster for it.

He has come up with a concept that allows him to receive over 800 visitors in the Ostra-Dome.

However, explanations of the concept that are given on the homepage raise questions.

It is true that there are only personalized and traceable seats in the hall.

But the audience is placed in groups of ten, which should keep a distance from the other groups.

In the hall, this is possible by a distance of one meter through the corridor or by blocking a square.

The following sentence from the concept then seems strange: "These groups of ten are voluntary infection groups. By buying your ticket alongside other people, you agree to be placed within the infection group."

In other words: anyone who buys one of these tickets for the "Jazztage Dresden" thinks it's okay if they catch the virus in their audience.

The idea may be well meant.

For example, if a family of ten goes to a concert together, they could enjoy jazz together without a mask.

But that is likely to be the exception, most people happen to end up in their group when buying tickets.

The event thus turns into an orchestrated superspreading event.

SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach formulated it even more drastically in relation to the "Bild" newspaper, which first reported on the incident.

Voluntary infection groups are an unethical human experiment that undermines efforts to contain the virus in unspeakable ways, it said.

After all, the organizer also has places on offer for jazz fans who do not want to expose themselves to increased risk.

These spectators are then placed in areas where the wearing of a "mouth and nose mask is mandatory."

Nevertheless, the incident is an embarrassing mishap for the city of Dresden, which had passed through the hygiene concept of the "Jazz Days".

It is "regrettable that the action of an organizer brings an entire industry into criticism and thus calls into question the very good and well-thought-out hygiene concepts of the culture industry," said Dresden's health department at the request of SPIEGEL.

However, the health department did not comment on why and under what conditions the approval was originally issued.

The health department asked the organizer to change his approach immediately.

"The formation of so-called voluntary infection communities is expressly not in the interests of the state capital Dresden."

A minimum distance of one meter must be permanently guaranteed during the performances.

"If the organizer does not change his approach, the state capital Dresden reserves the right to withdraw approval," the statement said.

However, the "Jazztage" makers reacted with little understanding to SPIEGEL's request and rejected Lauterbach's allegations as defamatory and without any basis whatsoever.

"We forbid such accusations and statements to the festival, our guests and the state capital Dresden in the strongest!", Said director Forster.

The placement of guests in voluntary ten infection groups is approved in the hygiene concepts of various organizers, as well as in the jazz days, and corresponds to the legal requirements, it said.

But improvements were made anyway.

The distances between the rows of chairs would be increased from 84 centimeters to one meter.

And anyway, from Tuesday, all spectators will have to wear masks during the concerts.

It is obvious that it is not a good idea to voluntarily contract Covid.

Even young people cannot rule out the possibility that they will not develop severe disease despite being in good health - even if they are less at risk than older people.

Medical professionals are currently unable to make any statements about possible long-term effects, even with more harmless or symptom-free courses.

The Paul Ehrlich Institute recently criticized a British study as too risky, in which subjects between the ages of 18 and 30 voluntarily wanted to have coronavirus dribbled into their noses.

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Daniele Ganser at a discussion in Dresden after his lecture

Photo: Andreas Weihs / imago images

The "Jazztage Dresden" are also questionable for another reason.

The introduction described above was not aimed at anyone but Daniele Ganser.

The Swiss historian and journalist calls himself a peace researcher.

But he is considered by some experts as a propagator of conspiracy myths.

His lecture in Dresden on the subject of geostrategy, in which Ganser promised a "look behind the scenes of power", met with criticism in advance.

Organizer Kilian Forster justified Ganser's invitation by stating that he wanted to enter into a dialogue, as this was the only way to overcome the threatening social division.

Lately Ganser has taken a questionable course on the subject of Covid-19.

Scientist Michael Butter from the University of Tübingen, who researches conspiracy myths, recently said in an interview about Ganser that he jumped up with the Corona skeptics and doubts the official scientific findings.

For example, the Swiss is said to have been to a corona demonstration station in Berlin.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-10-27

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