Cluj-Napoca mayor proposes trial concert similar to recent Barcelona one

Cluj-Napoca mayor Emil Boc has proposed holding a trial concert in Cluj, similar to the one held in Barcelona on March 27, to test solutions for restarting events in the country, Digi24 reported.

Five thousand people attended a concert of the rock group Love of Lesbian at Palau Sant Jordi indoor arena in Barcelona after receiving negative results of Covid-19 tests performed on the day of the event. The participants wore FFP2 masks and did not have to follow social distancing norms. It was meant to trial a new protocol for organizing events in the current sanitary context.

The mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the city where some of the largest events in the country take place, including music festival Untold and Transilvania International Film Festival, said holding a similar test concert in the city would allow the authorities to identify solutions for allowing festivals to be held in summer and fall.

"I am a supporter of restarting events and festivals. At this point, our priority is people's health. An interesting experiment was the one in Barcelona, where 5,000 people were allowed to attend an event to see if the risks are that high. […] It is an experiment that will allow conclusions at a European level. If the central authorities agree, I am in favor of organizing such an experiment in Cluj, to see if, by following all the norms, we can restart events," Boc told Digi24.

The city has the needed infrastructure – a stadium and multi-purpose indoor arena – to test the way events can be restarted, he said.

At the same time, Boc said he agreed with prime minister Florin Cîțu on the restrictions introduced at a national level and that going back to normal depended on everyone's effort.

"The prime minister is right; we need to find a balance between restrictions and reopening because people are very stressed after one pandemic year but, at the same time, we need to know that we are at a critical point, where the effort of each and every one is decisive," he said.

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