Covid: Why is Liverpool being used as a test site?

Events are taking place in Liverpool to test crowd safety and check what impact easing Covid-19 rules will have ahead of a full lifting of restrictions later in the year. But why is the city at the forefront of these trials and how do people feel about the city being used as a test site?

The events form part of the government's Events Research Programme (ERP), which will explore the risk of transmission and the effectiveness of measures such as ventilation and testing.

Liverpool's involvement is not the first time the city has been used to help shape national policy during the pandemic, as in November it was also selected for the mass testing trial where residents were offered regular coronavirus tests.

The city's director of public health Matt Ashton believes part of the reason Liverpool has been trusted to take on the trials dates back to July 2020, when concerns started to grow over a spike in cases in the city's Princes Park ward "right in the heart of one of our most disadvantaged communities".

In a bid to stop the virus from spreading, people living in the area were advised to avoid mixing with other households, a walk-in testing centre was opened, community buildings were closed and a local public health campaign was launched.

Mr Ashton said this local response not only ensured the outbreak was "squashed in under two-and-a-half weeks" but it also "showed what local areas can do when they take control of the situation".

This partly led to the decision to select Liverpool for the mass testing pilot as "the government was keen to work with us as a result of our previous success", he said.

So when discussions started over the ERP, Mr Ashton knew the city had the "knowledge and infrastructure in place to deliver complicated projects safely".

"We have been knocking on government's door since last year wanting to be a part of pilot events [as] we know we can do it safely and well."

He said he was "massively proud of the way Liverpool has come together to fight this awful pandemic," adding it was a "continuation of the city's long-standing tradition of carrying out pioneering public health work".

The first ERP trial was held on Wednesday and saw 400 people gather for the start of The Good Business Festival at ACC Liverpool.

Guests did not have to wear masks or socially distance, but all attendees had to take a test before and after the event.

"It is much safer coming to these events than it is going to the supermarket," said Liverpool's director of culture, Claire McColgan, who was part of the team organising the festival.

She said it was important to help get these kinds of gatherings back up and running as the events sector "represents more than half of our economy, so also plays a major role in the success of the city".

"Liverpool is a really interesting city because it always does put its hands up for things, always has done," she added.

Paul Grover, the chairman of the Liverpool China Partnership, was one of those who went along.

He said it was a "huge honour to be a part of the project", which had been "really exciting".

He added that he hoped it had been "a snapshot of where we are going to get to hopefully in a few weeks' time".

Jayne Moore, the chief executive of Jayne Moore Media Group, also attended the event.

She said there was a lot of excitement as it was "really important for our economy that we get back to normality as quickly as possible".

"I think Liverpool is famous for being first for many things and that's because we are such a tight, well-organised community," she added.

Other trials in the city will be held at Bramley-Moore Dock warehouse with a nightclub event hosted by Circus, Luna Outdoor Cinema and in Sefton Park, where rock band Blossoms will headline a near-normal gig without any social distancing or mask wearing.

Yousef Zaher, the co-founder of Circus events and DJ, said he was "excited to be able to contribute to getting the whole nation back into the real world".

He said his event would be "monumental for a thousand reasons" and added that once those attending are through the doors, it would be "old school normality to gather data to be able to get us to 21 June with as least resistance as possible".

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said the choice of the city was down to its "can-do attitude and real sense of community spirit".

"People get the importance of being part of something significant that helps get life back to normal," he said.

"We saw how people embraced mass testing and similarly we are seeing the same with the ERP."

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