Social Distancing Reduced For Live Performers

News & Features

The 3m social distancing rule has been reduced to just 1m for performers.

A crowd of people are raising their hands in the air at a concert.
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Now only 1m is required so long as performers have measures in place to protect them.

Stage performers will no longer have to manage a 3m distancing rule. Now only 1m is required so long as performers have measures in place to protect them.



Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, announced that a "medical study the UK government commissioned & funded shows that singing is no more risky than talking." So many as 25 professional performers of different genders, ethnicities, ages and backgrounds - musical theatre, opera, gospel, jazz and pop - took part in the study, the BBC shared.

A group of people are playing violins in an orchestra.
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...good news for music venues, musicians, theatres & opera.

Professor of physical chemistry at Bristol Uni, Jonathon Reid says: "Our research has provided a rigorous scientific basis for Covid-19 recommendations for arts venues to operate safely, for both the performers and audience, by ensuring that spaces are appropriately ventilated to reduce the risk of airborne transmission."



Oliver Dowden said is was "good news for music venues, musicians, theatres & opera."

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Editorial Team • 24 August 2020
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