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 Their hope is that by finding out more about the behaviour of
aerosols or airborne particles, which could spread the coronavirus
within a crowd, they will be able to remove them from the air and
get fans back into stadiums and concert halls.
"There is almost no information in scientific literature about the
behaviour of aerosols in this kind of environment", lead researcher
Bert Blocken told Reuters.
The tests are taking place at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam,
home of Ajax Amsterdam.
"We want to get a fundamental insight in the behaviour of aerosols
in a stadium filled with football supporters. By air cleaning
technologies you can drastically reduce concentrations and make
stadiums safe in terms of aerosol transmission of the virus," he
added.
There is growing consensus among scientists that transmission via
aerosols plays a part in the spread of the novel coronavirus,
although it is unclear to what extent.
The research could provide insight in how to minimise the
concentration of aerosols and limit their epidemic risk, said
Blocken, a professor in aerodynamics at the Technical University of
Eindhoven.
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A computer model will extrapolate the data gathered during weeks of testing to
show the effects for a full capacity crowd of around 55,000.
Researchers also hope to get permission soon to experiment with a real crowd of
730 football fans, seated close together.
The final goal is to get capacity crowds back into stadiums, Blocken said,
possibly through the use of large scale COVID-19 testing, face masks and
ventilation.
That would be exactly what the Johan Cruyff Arena needs to survive, its director
told Reuters.
"This is a very costly building, and the income is less than half of what is
normal, so we are making a loss every month", said Henk Markerink.
"We try to keep the ship afloat, but this shouldn't take too long because in the
end this cannot be financed."
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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