Re-opening live events and large venues after Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ : behavioural risks and their mitigations
Abstract
This article reviews the behavioural risks and possible mitigations for re-opening large venues for sports and music events when Covid-19 infection rates and hospitalizations begin to decline. We describe the key variables that we suggest will affect public behaviour relevant to the spread of the virus, drawing upon four sources: (1) relevant evidence and recommendations from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours produced for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE); (2) research evidence from non-pandemic conditions; (3) research on behaviour during the pandemic; and (4) relevant theory. We first outline some basic risks and a framework for understanding collective behaviour at live events. We then survey some trends in UK public behaviour observed over 2020 and how these might interact with the opening of live events and venues. We present a range of mitigation strategies, based on the framework for collective behaviour and on what is known about non-pharmaceutical (i.e. behavioural) interventions in relation to Covid-19.
Citation
Drury , J , Rogers , M B , Marteau , T M , Yardley , L , Reicher , S & Stott , C 2021 , ' Re-opening live events and large venues after Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ : behavioural risks and their mitigations ' , Safety Science , vol. 139 , 105243 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105243
Publication
Safety Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0925-7535Type
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Description
The work of Drury, Reicher, and Stott on this paper was supported by funding from UK Research and Innovation/Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference number ES/V005383/1).Collections
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