No transmission at Sitges nightlife clinical trial, results show

The clinical trial of nightlife that took place in Sitges in May, in which hundreds of people enjoyed clubs and late bars for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, shows no Covid-19 transmission during the evening. 

Organizers of the trial revealed the successful results on Friday after all participants were given antigen tests and wore masks for the night, but no social distancing was required. 

Five bars opened until 3 am and there was no transmission of Covid-19 detected among the 391 participants who enjoyed a night of music and dancing. 

Trial participants were tested both on the day and 14 days later, and all came back negative. A total of 88% of the participants were given the second tests a fortnight later, and representatives from Catalonia’s health ministry are happy that this gives full validity to the experiment.

This event also came almost two months after 5,000 people attended the successful Love of Lesbian concert experiment in Barcelona with masks but no social distancing.

Nightlife will officially return to Catalonia from June 21, with clubs and late bars allowed to open until 3.30 every night. 

Some other conditions will affect their operations, such as a capacity limit of 50% in indoor areas, drinks can only be consumed while seated, and safety distances must be maintained between different groups of people. 

Groups can only be a maximum of six people, while ten outdoors, while there are no capacity limits set on outdoor spaces.

For Joan Colom, an official from the department of health, the results of the trial are "very positive" and reinforce the government's decision to reopen the sector. He also emphasised that the testing was done with total scientific rigour and with "impeccable" organization. 

Damià Orts, a representative of nightlife in Sitges, celebrated that the results show nightlife is "safe" and are confident that it will serve to make the conditions for reopening more flexible in terms of opening hours and capacity. “The test should help us to keep taking steps forward,” he says.