• Two test concerts will take place before June 8 at the Secret Place, near Montpellier.

  • These test concerts will be the support of a study, which should make it possible to know whether or not the Covid-19 circulates in this type of event, and under what conditions.

  • Only people negative for Covid-19 will be able to attend these concerts.

    On site, it will be mandatory to wear a mask, but physical distancing will not be.

    Another group of people will attend the event from their homes.

The State has given the green light to the organization, at the Secret Place, in Saint-Jean-de-Védas (Hérault), of two test concerts, as part of the resumption of cultural life.

They should take place before June 8.

The team of this temple of underground rock has been working, for months, with the Montpellier University Hospital, on the development of a study aimed at refining health protocols, when the rooms reopen.

20 Minutes

explains.

What will these test concerts be used for?

These test concerts will be the support of a scientific study, which should make it possible to know whether or not Covid-19 circulates in this type of event, and under what conditions. And thus, to the State, to refine the sanitary protocols to be put in place when the concerts, "standing and without physical distancing", will be authorized again, explains Stéphane Ricchiero, the president of the Association of the producers and the editors of music (Apem), which co-organizes the event, with the Secret Place team.

The test concert, scheduled for Bercy, Paris, on May 29, with the Indochine group, in front of more than 5,000 people, will provide the same type of data.

But, in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, the only test concerts authorized by the state in the provinces, the hall is much smaller, and the gauge is much lower.

"In the Zénith, at Bercy or in the South of France Arena, where there is a lot of space, the ventilation is not at all the same as in" club "type rooms, with 300 to 800 seats" , says Stéphane Ricchiero.

In Montpellier, the study is thus “complementary” to that carried out in Paris.

How will the test concerts take place?

In total, 1,290 people will participate in the study: for each concert, 215 will attend the event at Secret Place and 430 “will see it remotely”, on the Web, from home, notes Stéphane Ricchiero. This will allow scientists to compare the results between spectators and people at home, who have not changed their habits. The interest is to see if the virus has "not circulated more in the concert than in normal life", continues François Pinchon, the manager of the Secret Place. All this little world will be tested the day before the event. But only people negative for Covid-19 will be able to attend. But if everyone is negative, what is the point of such a project? Because the test "is not 100% reliable, but 87 or 88%". These are the Easy Cov saliva tests,of the Montpellier company Skill Cell, the results of which are known in forty minutes, which were chosen to carry out this operation.

Finally, on site, the entry and exit flows will be strict, the hydroalcoholic gel will flow freely and everyone will have to wear a mask.

"Whoever does not want to wear it leaves," continues the president of the Apem.

Sanitary measures will be very strict on site.

The only exception: there will be no physical distancing.

Seven days later, all study participants will be retested.

The mass of data collected will then be processed by researchers, then the results will be presented to the State services.

Our file on the coronavirus

How to participate?

The modalities for participating in this study, as well as the dates, the dedicated platform and the program, will be specified in the coming days by the Secret Place team and its partners.

People who can physically attend the event, in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, and those who can only do so from home, will be drawn by a computer.

The concerts will, of course, be free.

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