EXIT Festival took place between July 8 – 11 in Serbia and welcomed between 42,000 and 48,000 people per day. The festival as has reportedly resulted in no mass spread of COVID-19.
The event attracted acts such as David Guetta, DJ Snake, Maceo Plex, Nina Kraviz and many more. It was the first major festival to he held in Europe since the pandemic began.
The scientific study – conducted by the Health Centre Novi Sad and the association Project Lab, under the leadership of epidemiologist Marija Milić MD – divided a total of 345 visitors into two groups – vaccinated and those who entered the festival with a negative test.
They were tested before entering the festival, when only one person was positive and thus not allowed to enter the site, Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad. Testing was repeated after seven days, July 15-17, and the results show no one positive coronavirus infections in either group.
“In order to examine the risk of contracting a new Coronavirus during a visit to a mass event, in the situation where all preventive measures have been applied, and when all visitors were required to be fully vaccinated or have a negative test for Coronavirus, it was decided that during EXIT Festival would be conducted a scientific study, thus using a unique opportunity to gain new scientific knowledge about the virus,” said Assistant professor, Milić MD.
Another convincing proof that there was no mass spread of the virus at Exit is the fact that even 10 days after the start of the festival there was no significant deterioration of the epidemiological situation in Novi Sad, and also that the daily statistics of the virus in the period from 8 to 19 July in the city did not differ from the averages in the rest of the country. Another indicator is the fact that out of almost 20,000 foreigners who visited EXIT, and who in most cases needed PCR to return to their country, only one visitor tested positive.
