Training partner - August 21

FACEBOOK IS a marvelous way of stalking your family and friends, plus occasionally working out the ones to avoid. This weekend I was surprised to see posts from my brother with images of large numbers of closely packed unmasked people at a music festival. Further investigation discovered this was the “Download Festival 2021 Pilot”, a scaled down version of the Download Festival.

My initial uniformed reaction, given the rise of the Delta variant in the UK, was one of shock (the words ‘superspreader event’ came to mind). I was at Twickenham on 7 March 2020 at the time Covid was first on the rise, the excitement of an England vs. Wales match got the better of my judgement. I suffered for this - ill for two weeks. I’m not sure whether it was flu or Covid and will never know. So to see my brother making the same error of judgement was a bit of a surprise, plus I could not understand how such an event was even allowed.

So then to the research. The clue was in the word “Pilot” - this was part of the Government's Event Research Programme (ERP), and this was the second pilot, with a smaller one in Liverpool in the previous month. The event was being monitored by researchers from Public Health England who were gathering data on “transmission risk given the the suspension of social distancing and face coverings over several consecutive days”. So very important research if we are to return to relative normality anytime soon.

Looking further there were plenty of risk mitigation measures in place. The event was limited to 10,000, tickets were limited to one per person so that there was a clear communication line between the organisers and attendee. They even blocked the same payment card being used for multiple bookings. The ticket price included PCR and Lateral Flow tests - the PCR test had to be submitted before travelling to the event and the lateral flow test result was required to gain entry, plus all were advised to register with the Track and Trace system. Not 100% foolproof, as my brother noted; one visitor camping next to him received a positive PCR result despite receiving negative Lateral Flow tests. But he behaved responsibility, informing those in nearby tents and packing up and leaving as soon as the result was received. 

The organisers had thought things through, offering refunds for those who tested positive. This was an important control measure as wasted money can be a strong motivator for some to bend the rules.

The event itself had many sanitation stations which were well used, cashless payments only and security staff managing the event all wore masks as they were coming into contact with large numbers of people and “crowd surfers”.

As this was a test under 16s were not allowed, and all those attending had to sign a consent document relating to taking part in the research project and to submit a PCR test five days after the event ended, obviously to check the impact of the experiment.

So my initial uneducated reaction was misplaced. Whether the risk mitigation steps were sufficient will be seen but that was the purpose of this pilot. The evidence is that COVID will be with us for some time, quite possibly many years, and we cannot forever hide away. So research is important to determine how we can return to relative normality and the risks that will be involved. I do not buy this small vocal minority who argue their “freedom” has been taken away. It is in my view a selfish attitude with no consideration for their neighbors. Any steps we take to return to normality, I believe, must be researched and tested. And if that means we have to all adapt our behaviour to create the compromise where this can happen with the least risk, so be it.

As for the event itself it really is not my sort of music, and I will admit I had not heard of any of the bands playing so would not have gone on that basis. But now given the full information, had the line up been more to my taste I would have been tempted, but still probably too risk averse. Perhaps after the second jab...

Looking at the photos my brother had a great time, looking both happy and tired, the latter probably more due to sleeping in a tent for three nights (he is not as young as he used to be). My thanks to him for helping me pull this together.

Gary Fallaize is managing director at RRC. For more information, visit www.rrc.co.uk