WellRehearsed is gathering vital data to help policy makers and music groups understand ongoing Covid risks
Initial data from the WellRehearsed app for leisure-time music groups created by abcd (Association of British Choral Directors) and Making Music show that since its launch in the summer, over 2,571 reports have been submitted from 2,209 rehearsals by choirs, wind or brass groups, and other instrumental groups with or without singers, wind and brass.
Of these, only 58 infections have been reported. These were followed up by an anonymous questionnaire looking to understand key details about each case.
Although the data set is as yet small, there may be two items of good news: firstly, that is a low number of infections compared to the total number of rehearsals, around 2.5%. Secondly, just two groups report more than one infection.
Usually, a reported infection means a participant arrived at rehearsals not knowing they were infectious. Only one infection being reported means that the participant did not transmit Covid to others at that rehearsal, despite potentially being infectious. A larger data set will confirm whether that is due to the risk mitigations used by music groups – such as ventilation, face coverings, shorter rehearsal time and continued social distancing – being effective at limiting Covid transmission.
A rise in reports of infections is likely this autumn as groups go back to meeting in person and people generally return to interacting socially; it also reflects the current rise in infections in the UK.
The WellRehearsed app data can help abcd and Making Music offer policy makers real-life evidence on the likelihood of Covid transmission in music groups, and music groups the most up-to-date advice on how to mitigate the risk of infection.
Music groups themselves can see the most up to date statistics at any time via the app.
If you run a music group that is meeting in person, you can support the collection of evidence by downloading the WellRehearsed app from the Apple Store for iPhone or Google Play for Android.
All data is collected anonymously and only one person in a music group needs to download it in order to submit reports on rehearsals.
Figures in this article are taken from the app at the time of writing (22 Sep)
