The Event Safety Alliance (ESA) has released guidelines for reopening events and venues for event organizers, which includes the necessary sanitary measures to open within the next few months.
Prepared by more than 300 tour professionals, the organization created a 29-page document specifying security protocols for event organizers and venues in several states. ESA divided the guideline for reopening events and venues into 8 sections, which have various topics including the safest date to reopen.
The 8 guide sections are:
- Planning when to reopen.
- Patron education
- Worker Health and Hygiene
- Sanitizing the venue
- Ingress and egress
- Food, beverage, and merchandise
- Production issues
- Legal Issues
Among the recommendations, ESA suggests to venues and events implement temperature displays and install handwash stations at all entry points.
“Everybody wants to keep their stuff clean and in good shape, but my goodness, to avoid transmitting COVID-19 and killing people — that’s a lot to lay on somebody who’s a theater manager who’s used to wearing all black and Dickies shorts 12 months out of the year,”
Steve Adelman, ESA executive to Billboard
A part of the report mentions the process of reopening this activity, which will be a chain effect. The first venue to open will be the small one. If this space doesn’t increase COVID -19 transmission rates, the bigger venues will implement these measures on a larger scale. Otherwise, if They get more infections, the local government can close the venues again.
What About Attendees?
Although organizers like Live Nation and venues like WiZink Center are planning how to get back to normal in the shortest possible time, the last thing that will return is the huge concentration of people around a mainstage
Concertgoers can dance and have fun but keeping distance. The ESA guidelines for reopening events and venues don’t recommend activities like moshpit or surfing because it requires a lot of physical contact.
“Patrons cannot all stand at the front of the stage like they are accustomed; moshing and crowd surfing are violations of social distancing per se and must be absolutely prohibited during this pandemic; even hallways and smoking areas where patrons congregate will have to be monitored to enforce health policies,”
ESA recommendation to atendees
With these guidelines we are sure of one thing: the experience at festivals and venues will change enormously. The collective culture changed when 9/11 happened and now it needs to change again.
A culture where prevention, cleanliness, and social distancing are essential to have our concerts again without fear of a COVID-19 outbreak. You can read all the ESA guidelines for reopening events and venues here.