Project RESTART-19 Begins To Publish Findings

Since it was announced in the Spring, we’ve been following the large scale German study, Project RESTART-19, a multi-disciplinary research effort in Germany to identify conditions necessary to safely restart live performance events.

The group began releasing results from their study at the end of October with a kick-off press briefing on October 29, 2020. While the project’s website includes quite a few videos from that event, none are in English. Having said that, they do have closed captioning which means you can take advantage of Google’s auto-translate tool. While it’s not perfect, it’s an entirely serviceable option (and a handy tool to keep tucked away):

1. Select the gear icon.
2. Select Auto-translate then select English from the available list.

As of now, none of the full reports are available for download but they do have a version of the overview press release available in English.

The most important finding for us was how big the effects of good ventilation technology are. This is a decisive factor for the risk of infection.

Highlights (auto-translated from German to English):

• Poor ventilation can significantly increase the number of people at risk of infection.
• There should be several entrances to access the venues in order to direct the flow of visitors. Waiting areas [should be] relocated outdoors.
• During the event, you should eat at the seats in order to avoid crowds and long contacts at snack stands.
• As long as the pandemic lasts…[there must be] mask requirements in the hall [along with] stewards to ensure compliance with the standards.

Ideally, we’ll begin to see additional report content made available in English.