PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE
THE STARS COLLIDE, THEN THEY DECIDE As we accelerate towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and towards the more manageable endemic, PSA’s Andy Lenthall believes the focus must shift to building consumer confidence.
Just when we’ll be able to gather together in densities that allow for a functioning, financially sustainable events industry is anybody’s guess right now. Even those best placed to make a prediction are unwilling to do so; calls for a ‘not before’ date fall on deaf ears and it’s certain that schools, universities, and retail outlets are first in line when it comes to the post-lockdown gradual reopening. The fairly consistent message in working groups, industry briefings and ministerial round tables is that a gradual return is more likely than a rush to normality once the most at-risk people are vaccinated. That message is delivered not from ministers but from senior scientific advisers to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; they’re keeping industry leaders up to speed on their research into just how we can make an appropriate risk judgement. We’re all fairly used to risk assessment; whether they relate to workplace risks or crowd dynamics, incidents generally result in outcomes affecting those involved; risk of transmission of a highly contagious virus is a different proposition. With leaked papers
suggesting the scientific advisers see the rule of six and social distancing for the rest of the year, yet politicians still ‘hope for a happy and free great British summer’ on a friend’s island? We’ve seen evidence from test events that have taken place overseas and we can take heart from positive results. An event in Spain was shown to not spread infections, although it was a limited audience that was carefully tested, proving that people without COVID-19 can gather and not transmit COVID-19. The real test for testing is at full capacity for a large audience, nobody has yet decided how tests would be paid for either, with one provider recently suggesting that £100 isn’t much compared to the price of a festival ticket. Perhaps hope for testing lies in the coming together of accuracy and price; reports of a low-cost, accurate, ‘spit in a tube’ test with the ability to spot infection in asymptomatic carriers is promising. The next best thing to a guaranteed COVID-19-free audience is one that won’t get ill if infected. At the time of writing, the vaccination roll-out 48