Today, a hearing will be held at the Rotterdam City Council on the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in light of the spread of corona virus. The initiator of the hearings, Geert Koster from the Livable Rotterdam movement, believes that letting the contest take place in its current, full-fledged form is irresponsible.

“If the City Hall of Rotterdam simply allows the competition to take place in its usual form, it will consciously take the risk of developing an infection. Safety should be guaranteed for all visitors, but I absolutely can not imagine its implementation with the current state of affairs.”

According to a survey of the AD portal, 37% of users believe that Eurovision should be canceled now, 39% call not to rush a decision, and 24% offer to hold the festival according to the usual plan.

At a meeting of heads of delegations this week which representatives of 16 countries refused to attend, no alternative scenarios for the contest were announced, because they do not depend on the organizers, but on the city mayor and the government of the Netherlands.

City councilor Coster believes that the contest should be delayed until the fall or rescheduled for the next year. “Holding a contest without spectators is not a solution to the problem, because large groups of people from different countries will still be present – members of delegations, representatives of the media, these are several thousand people, these are the same risks as with a full hall.”

At the moment, in the Netherlands there is no national ban on large-scale events, so the decision on the future of Eurovision should be made by the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb. He faces a list of 13 questions about possible risks, and if six of them are answered positively, the event can be canceled. Eurovision bears risks as 1) an indoor event, 2) by the number of people involved (over 5000), 3) by the length of the event (over 2 hours), 4) by the distance traveled by each of the spectators, 5) by the number of spectators from countries with a virus epidemic, 6) by queues at the entrance into the hall, 7) as an event at which spectators often shout or sing, etc.

As minimum measures, the installation of additional toilets with soap and water, the installation of thermal imagers and the ban on entry of people with fever or signs of a viral infection will be considered.

Event page: http://esckaz.com/2020/event.htm