Rejoice for the return of the church choir

Not all coronavirus research sounds like fun, but wouldn’t you just loved to have been at the session where 25 choristers were asked to sing Happy Birthday at varying volumes to determine whether or not it would be safe for choirs to get back to business. The exercise was carried out by academics collaborating with Public Health England (while it lasted) and the Department for Culture. And you know what? It turns out that the quieter the singing, the lower the risk of transmitting droplets.

The researchers found that singing did not produce much more aerosol than speaking at a similar volume, but singing or speaking loudly increased the production of droplets by a factor of between 20 and 30 compared with lower volumes. “Just by singing a little more softly you really reduce the risk. Singing itself doesn’t carry a disproportionate risk,” said Jonathan Reid, professor of physical chemistry at the University of Bristol.

The upshot is that choirs can safely return to business in cathedrals, which have enormous spaces and room for quite a lot of social distancing (though managing to space out choristers in old fashioned choir stalls will challenge the choirmasters.)