RIVM: choirs can rehearse safely again

The choir world has long looked forward to this, Wednesday evening the redeeming document from RIVM: singing in a choir is allowed again – on certain conditions. Choir singers must be physically separated from each other, at least five feet, with the additional advice not to stand in rows, but in a zigzag formation. When singing in an indoor space, ventilation must be provided. And of course anyone who has the slightest complaints that could indicate the virus should stay at home and get tested. Chants, singing along and shouting in groups, such as at sports competitions, are prohibited, because the circumstances cannot be controlled.

RIVM’s advice was written at the request of the Ministries of VWS and OCW. This also included the start-up protocol that was already published on 29 May by umbrella organization Koor Netwerk Nederland. That protocol, on the basis of which some choirs already started rehearsing, was created after consultation with the entire choir sector and on the basis of all internationally known information about the transmission of the coronavirus by wind instruments and singers (studies and protocols), such as by physicist Ivo Bouwmans of TU Delft collected on the website virmus.nl.

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At the end of May, RIVM advised otherwise: not enough was known about the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 with forced voice use and wind instruments, so ‘singing in a group at the time of widespread transmission was not recommended’. The new advice also remains unclear about the role of aerosols in the spread of the virus during singing: not everything is known about this, the RIVM writes. Because the concentration in the air counts with aerosols, good ventilation remains important, as is advisable for all common indoor activities.

At the beginning of the corona crisis, there were some major outbreaks among choirs: at the Amsterdams Mixed Choir, which on March 8 Johannes Passion performed, four choir members died from corona and more than a hundred singers fell ill. Three singers died in the men’s choir Salvatori from Nunspeet.

Because the infection number (R) is now less than 1, choruses both inside and outside can be justified under the aforementioned conditions, according to the RIVM.

According to the Choral Network, 1.7 million Dutch people sing in groups, half of whom sing in a choir. The relief is great. “It feels a bit like liberation day in 2020,” choir conductor Sanne Nieuwenhuisen writes on Facebook.

“We are very relieved that RIVM’s advice is finally here,” said Daphne Wassink, chairman of the Netherlands Choir Network. “The uncertainty about safe singing took a month longer than we thought was necessary, and led to needless fear and division in the wheat world. Now it is important to restore the broad confidence in safe singing together and to keep singing in choirs accessible to as many people as possible. After all, singing is healthy. ”

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