SARS-COV-2 ANTIGEN SCREENING DURING THE FIRST POST-LOCKDOWN MAJOR MUSIC FESTIVAL IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA, IN JULY 2021

Abstract

Many countries have resumed mass gathering events like music festivals, despite potential risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmissions. This study aimed to examine the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection among visitors to a mass event, the EXIT festival, in relation to the proposed preventive measures. A total of 466 visitors were included in this longitudinal study conducted in Novi Sad, Serbia, during July, 2021. All subjects were tested with RDT-Ag test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus at the beginning of the study and seven days after. Basic socio-demographic and epidemiological data were collected through a questionnaire. The average age of participants was 28.34 ± 8.87 years with the majority of men (53.7%). There were 170 (36.5%) vaccinated participants. A 97.1% in vaccinated and 92.2% in unvaccinated group, reported to regularly wear a protective mask (p=0.029). At the second cross-sectional testing, 354 subjects were tested, of which 150 (42.4%) were vaccinated. There was no statistically significant difference in application of preventive measures during and after the festival, in respect to vaccination status of the participants. Twenty participants (5.6%) reported some of the COVID-19-like symptoms in the first seven days after visiting the festival, but no COVID-19 infection was confirmed at the RDT-Ag testing. Despite the potential effectiveness of applied preventive measures such as RDT-Ag screening, mask-wearing and vaccination, additional caution is needed when holding these events during a period of high SARS-CoV-2 transmission, as well as when the new virus variants emerge in community.