Spain Brings Back Concerts with New Maximum Capacity

Spain is working to phase in live music events starting as soon as this month.

The government’s newly launched lockdown exit plan comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, addressing reopening of the country in four stages. Phase zero is underway, lasting until May 11th.

Under the upcoming phase one plan, which starts on May 11th, “cultural events” are allowed to return with a maximum capacity of 30 people. This goes for venues that usually have a capacity of 90 or more, so the numbers are cut by at least 2/3.

During phase two, starting on May 25th, the capacity limit will allow indoor concert venues to reopen, still operating at a 1/3 rule with a maximum of 50 people. Open-air events will be allowed to reopen with up to 400 people keeping “necessary distance.”

The last stage, also known as the “advanced” stage, starts June 8th and allows bars and nightclubs to reopen — keeping in mind the 1/3 rule.

As pointed out by NME, this is a drastic contradiction of what we’d heard from American healthcare experts on the subject. One recent quote from healthcare professional Zeke Emanuel is especially hard to ignore:

Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return. Realistically we’re talking fall 2021 at the earliest.

Source: NME