Saint-Malo could serve as an experimental laboratory for the festivals this summer.
An outdoor test festival is being prepared, headed by Professor Pierre Tattevin, head of the infectious diseases department at Rennes University Hospital.
The experiment will take the form of a festival spanning a day and a half in May, with strict respect for barrier gestures.
The risk associated with the occurrence of such events can thus be assessed.
Read also: The organization of Test Concerts stirs up envy
"
You have to obtain the authorizations, the project must be validated
," explains Pierre Tattevin on BFMTV.
For the moment, it is well advanced.
Unlike the test concerts in preparation in Paris and Marseille, the one in Saint-Malo will be held outdoors.
"
People stay for a day and a half, they stay to sleep there, with a large health framework so that it does not represent an excess risk
", specifies the doctor.
3000 participants instead of 10,000
The site used for the experiment will operate at a reduced gauge.
"3000 people" are
expected to participate,
"much less than what can be accommodated on the site, which goes to over 10,000 in some years."
Prerequisite for attending concerts, presenting a negative PCR test to the organizers.
“Then, so that it can be used by other festivals, we will ask [the participants] to agree to be tested again a week later so that we can know exactly what risk was taken by bringing these 3000 together. people. It's very structured, and we hope that it will help a little the resumption of the other outdoor festivals a little later. "
Some participants have already met the organizers, so that they are
"actors of the experiment"
.
They will be expected to
"keep the mask as often as possible apart from episodes of restoration or hydration, wash their hands regularly, not come if they have symptoms the day before"
.
Having had access to vaccination will not be a prerequisite to participate.
“
We consider it a good protection, but it would not be enough.
In any case, it is a young population, we are not at all sure of being able to vaccinate everyone before the festival
”, specifies Professor Tattevin.
Read also: Canceled, maintained or postponed: the festival calendar in the time of Covid-19
Festivals this summer must be held in a seated configuration, with a limit of 5,000 spectators. As a result, a wind of cancellation is blowing over the current music festivals planned for this summer. After a flurry of hope at the start of the year comes a hurricane of disillusionment. Art Rock, Main Square, Lollapalooza… The list of the most imposing summer festivals forced to cancel their 2021 edition is still growing. The reason has been the same for a year now: a stubborn health crisis and crippling restrictions.
Meanwhile, indoor concert experiments conducted abroad are showing promising results. After the rock test concert, which was held on March 27 in Barcelona,
"no sign"
of Covid-19 contamination was detected among the 5,000 spectators present, organizers said on Tuesday April 27. Participants danced in masks without being subject to distancing measures, showing that concerts are possible despite the pandemic. Six cases were declared positive but for four of them, the doctors are certain, the transmission of the virus did not take place during this evening.
