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Organizers of upcoming Australian music festival have unique plan to thwart COVID-19 spread

Coordinators of Good Day Sunshine music festival, a 5,000 capacity event taking place in Busselton, Western Australia, are gearing up for the October 31 event. With COVID-19 related concerns at the forefront of everyone’s minds, event organizers have devised a rather unorthodox method of hosting their event with the hopes that it will deter the spread of the virus.

The festival site will feature four separate locations positioned around a single central rotating stage. With performers situated on the center stage, all four areas will have equal vantage points to view performances. Each 1,250 capacity quarter will have its own entrance and exits, ensuring that attendees never come into contact with members of a different quarter.

Organizers of upcoming Australian music festival have unique plan to thwart COVID-19 spreadTurn The Tables

In the event of a COVID-19 outbreak, contact tracing will only need to be applied to those in the quarter where the cases developed, preventing the need for a large scale, 5,000 individual tracing effort. Currently, Australia has approximately 1,000 active COVID-19 cases, with only four confirmed cases in Western Australia.

Ross Macpherson, the mind behind the format, spoke about the unique efforts to simultaneously put on a large event and protect attendees from the spread of COVID-19, stating,

“We are excited to roll out this format for Good Day Sunshine. It will be great to have music events of a larger capacity rolling in Australia again. We have been working with the local council, police, health, and various other stakeholders to ensure the format complies with the current COVID-19 guidelines for Western Australia…The health and safety of our patrons and the state of Western Australia are our top priority. And of course, if a situation arises that prevents us from going ahead, we will be prepared to refund tickets.”

For more details on the festival, watch the descriptive video below, and check out the official website here.

Featured image: aLIVE Coverage