A new report shows that shutdowns of major events, such as music festivals and sporting events, made no major difference to the spread of Covid-19. The report was prepared by independent researchers and initiated by the SAFE 2.0 project, which consists of Dansk Live, Roskilde Festival Experience, and Divisionsforeningen. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University are responsible for the studies.

The main conclusions are:

• Very few people were infected at cultural and sporting events.
• The risk of spreading the infection at those events is minimal.
• Corona pass has created a feeling of security and is welcomed by the audience.
• The area requirements do not work as intended.
• Authorities should involve organisers and update health guidelines.

The researchers have evaluated the effect of attendance at cultural events in the period from June to October last year. The study includes 85 events, mostly indoors, as well as concerts, shows, festivals, and theatre. In total, over 117,000 guests attended, both seated and standing. The study is based on observations of audience behaviour, interviews, and questionnaires.

Sports events were investigated in the period from April to May. The figures show that among 240,000 spectators for 147 matches, there were 17 spectators who came to matches with the infection. Only 2 spectators were infected by attending football matches, even though 226 people were close enough to those infected that they were termed close contacts.

Overall, the conclusion is that there is a limited risk of becoming infected by attending cultural or sporting events. 90% of the guests were vaccinated and most guests felt safe and trusted that the organisers and the other guests behaved responsibly.

There have been no superspreader events, not even at two concerts that were otherwise named as such in the media. At a Martin Jensen concert with 2,000 standing guests, 0.6% of the attendees were infected and at a Jung concert with 11,000 seated and standing guests, 0.22% were infected. This should be compared with current rate of infection in society – the number of people infected in relation to the population – which was 0.59% at the time for the corresponding age group.

The report can be downloaded in Danish here.