10.g MDH EventsBelow is from the Minnesota Department of Health Web Site
Event organizers
Event organizers can take a variety of steps to lower the risk of transmission. Preventing spread
during events will protect staff and attendees and will also help limit spread in the community,
particularly to settings with vulnerable people, such as those too young to get vaccinated or who
may suffer severe illness if infected. Event organizers are encouraged to layer as many of
these COVID-19 prevention strategies as is feasible to maximize effectiveness.
Masking
• Require staff and attendees to wear well-fitting masks, regardless of vaccination status.
Businesses may elect to create their own mask policies, even when the law does not
require masks.
• Make masks available for staff and attendees.
• Post your masking recommendations or requirements outside and inside the venue.
o To download and print masking signs, visit Minnesota COVID-19 Response: For
Businesses.
o For more information on masks, visit Recommendations for Wearing
Masks and CDC's Science Brief: Community Use of Cloth Masks to Control the
Spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Screening
• Screen staff and attendees for symptoms. For a list of symptoms, visit CDC: Symptoms of
COVID-19.
• Require proof of vaccination or a negative test (with sample collected one to three days
prior to event).
Physical distancing
• Limit the number of attendees.
• Identify and plan ways to maintain physical distancing in pathways, lines, lobbies,
entrances and exits, and other areas where congestion is likely.
• Ensure that as much as possible, people from different households can maintain 6 feet of
physical distance (e.g., block seats, use signage). This is especially useful if people remove
their masks to eat or drink.
Ventilation
• Optimize air flow.
• When possible, host the event outdoors or limit the length of the indoor parts of the
event.
• If the event involves activities that increase aerosol transmission (e.g., singing, music) or
require people to remove their masks (e.g., eating, drinking), try to host these higher-risk
parts of the event outdoors.
• For more information on ventilation, visit Indoor Air Considerations: COVID-19.
Planning and communications
• Communicate the COVID-19 prevention requirements or recommendations to event staff
and attendees.
• Develop a method for checking vaccination status and negative test results for employees,
vendors, and attendees.
• If the event includes attendees from high-impact settings, such as K-12 schools or long-
term care facilities, ensure that COVID-19 prevention plans are consistent with those
settings and have been communicated to representatives of those settings. Require
representatives from high-impact settings to communicate COVID-19 activity in their
settings prior to the event.
• Develop a COVID-19 notification plan to inform staff and attendees when there is a case(s)
identified after the event.
• Plan when people will be notified, how they will be notified, and who will notify them.
Include information on individual actions to take when an exposure occurs at the event.
Refer to What to Do if You Have Had Close Contact With a Person With COVID-19 (PDF).
• Consider postponing the event when there is high COVID-19 transmission in the
community. To find local transmission information, visit CDC: COVID Data Tracker.