How To Have A Safe Event During Covid
After more than a year of closures and postponements, organizing and hosting events is starting up again. While many people are excited to return to pre-pandemic normality and start attending functions, organizers must ensure that they can plan and host them without creating a significant risk of a Covid outbreak.
With so many congregating in one place, these gatherings could become super spreader events, leaving organizers with their reputations in tatters. Here is advice for them to ensure that their functions are safe and do not pose an additional risk of Covid exposure.
Ensuring staff members are negative
Corporate COVID testing in Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, etc., has seen a surge since events companies have started planning a comeback. These companies have taken the extra steps to protect their staff and guests with on-site testing. You can pre-test screening and Covid test as specified locations where there are mobile medical professionals. 
Onsite services can provide various Covid testing options, including PCR and rapid PCR tests. The former must be undertaken in advance as results take a minimum of 24 hours to render.
- Tests that require lab results should be administered a few days before an event with blanket testing to ensure no one has the virus.
- Tests that can provide same-day results should be administered with enough time for everyone to get tested before event preparations begin.
Knowing that event staff do not have Covid ensures that they cannot cause an infection. With that worry cast aside, organizers can focus on attendees and ensure they have not contracted it. This means taking additional measures to protect everyone from a possible infection before and during the event. Functions will not look the way they did before Covid for some time to come. Accepting this and planning accordingly makes for a safe event. It's also worth mentioning that you should know how to store face masks properly.
Staff preparation
In addition to pre-event Covid testing, employees should receive training about enforcing any Covid prevention protocols. While attendees are guests and should be treated with deference, staff members must feel they can speak to them about implementing the stipulated protocols for preventing Covid transmission.
Training should include specific scenarios allowing employees to practice how they would deal with them and learn from each other. The experience will be valuable when confronted by challenges on the day, meaning that they will not need to call their supervisors for assistance unless necessary.
Prevent Covid from entering the event by screening attendees at the door
For the foreseeable future, events like exhibitions that accept walk-ins are unlikely to occur as they pose a significant risk. Organizers have no way of knowing who is attending and whether they get Covid.
For now, strict monitoring of access to events is essential. Therefore, many organizers are sticking to functions that people attend by invitation. Knowing in advance who to expect at an event significantly reduces its risk.
In the run-up to an event, organizers and their staff can maintain daily contact with planned participants, checking whether they still plan to attend and doing some rudimentary pre-screening, such as asking them to complete a Covid questionnaire to determine if they have symptoms.
This can be followed by an additional screening on the day of the event, accompanied by temperature readings. Attendees require reassurance that their information will be handled confidentially in compliance with local regulations.
The advantages of invite-only events
Events with a predetermined list of attendees are easier to manage for several reasons.
- Organizers can create a seating chart that allocates each guest somewhere to sit. This could be extremely valuable should someone report a positive test afterward, as contact tracing should start with those attendees who sat close to the infected person. Such measures put organizers in greater control of guest movement.
- Having contact details of those people planning to attend allows the organizer to prepare them for the day. This includes explaining what Covid prevention protocols will be utilized and the types of responsible behaviors guests should demonstrate.
- Pamphlets from local health authorities that explain Covid risks and why measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing are imperative can be sent out in advance.
Remind your attendees about the rules
Despite having sent out information regarding Covid protocols before the event and having staff on-hand to deal with any problems, attendees need a constant reminder to comply with the rules.
Prepare pandemic essentials such as high-filtration face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers at the venue, so you can give them to guests who forgot to bring their own. Alternatively, you can pack care kits consisting of the above mentioned pandemic essentials and selected items to distribute during the event to all the attendees.
Well-posted signage that encourages responsible behavior is effective in keeping Covid at the forefront of everyone’s minds. It is part of the new normal and should not be neglected at any stage, as the slightest deviation could have deadly consequences.
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