You might call it yodeling for Covid. Following a folk-music themed cruise on MS Swiss Crystal, 60 of 92 passengers have tested positive for Covid-19. The cruise was from Passau to Frankfurt between October 10 and 17, on the Danube and Main rivers.

The organizers say that pandemic precautions were observed, with notable exceptions. The cruise featured several music events which included hours of singing in enclosed spaces – including yodeling. Social distancing and mask wear was reportedly observed during part of the cruise but not during the music-making. 

Virologist Andreas Cerny, told Blick that the superspreading is no surprise: “You are together in a small space for days, meet in a changing composition for dinner and at the bar, where you don’t wear a mask when you consume it and you speak loudly with brass music and yodelling in the background got to. This is where both droplets and aerosols are formed and the virus is transmitted. Unfortunately, temperature measurement helps very little.

“This river navigation should not have taken place. The planning was probably made at a time when the number of cases was still low and then it was not adapted to the current situation of the rapidly increasing number of cases. ”

The event organizers and a popular singer, Monique, also tested positive for Covid-19.

Thanks to Jean-Pierre Declemy for contributing to this post.