BOOTH USHER w/ VIRUS- Page 2

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/14/20 at 5:25pm

Theater'sBestFriend said: "Fosse76 said: "The Shubert Organization was made aware at approximately 12:30pm on Wednesday that an usher who had worked atthe Booth Theatre in the last week had tested positive. At that moment, they should have cancelled both performances and request the staffto self quarantine. Scrubbing down the theatre between shows does nothing if the staffwho arein the building are infected."

What is your proof?"

I work there. I don't need to provide proof to you. 

**EDIT

CORRECTION: The staff were notified before the Wednesday matinee.  The Shuberts learned on TUESDAY NIGHT that the usher had been infected and wad symptomatic. This USA article quotes the official statement. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/11/broadway-usher-tests-positive-coronavirus-shows-still-happening/5026608002/

Updated On: 3/14/20 at 05:25 PM

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 3/14/20 at 5:53pm

Fosse76 said: "Theater'sBestFriend said: "Fosse76 said: "I work there. I don't need to provide proof to you.”

Of course not. You also didn’t have to make an accusation of wrongdoing or possible criminality that could harm public health. But you did.

Knowing you work there, I can imagine it might have been scary, and I’m very sorry for any distress you might have experienced personally. But I’m confused: If you have any proof it wasn’t handled properly, and care about public health, why wouldn’t you bring it forward? To improve protocol? Maybe to the Governor? Especially if you work there? I hope you’ll choose to clarify for everyone reading this. I say this because I respect your concern, and take it seriously. 

Updated On: 3/14/20 at 05:53 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/14/20 at 6:15pm

"Also, many experts say that most of us will get this eventually, and nearly 90% of cases will be very mild and pass without any need of intervention..." 

This is not what the horrible Donald Rumsfeld would have called a "known known." It's an unknown known. 

I'm going to say odds are that not a lot of people had intimate enough contact with the usher that droplets from his nose or mouth entered your nostrils, mouths or eyes. That's the level of intimacy that most think is required for a transmission to happen. Believe me, not impossible, given that sometimes we lose control of our own saliva when communicating.

But also, less important than the 90% of patients who experience only mild symptoms are the vulnerable people around them, and that's a pretty large group, especially humans who are 60 years and older, people with compromised immune systems and diabetes, etc. All of this is to say, instead of looking for ways in which we are not like the people who get terribly sick and those who don't survive, let's instead look at where we are in the chain of infection possibilities and do our best to disrupt it. 

I didn't want a world in which there were not enough representatives of the gay male generation before mine. None of us wants to live in a world without enough surviving parents and grandparents.

 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/14/20 at 8:33pm

I really hope the other ushers/workers/actors at the Booth or Brooks Atkinson have not been infected (it's been 14 days since he worked at SIX and 7 days since he worked at the Booth). 

 

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 11:59am

FindingNamo said: ""This is not what the horrible Donald Rumsfeld would have called a "known known." It's an unknown known."

Words of wisdom! 

On every front, government, healthcare, and civic institutions -- including the theatrical community -- are figuring this out in an evolving way. Protocols and procedures are being updated daily if not hourly by public health, governmental, healthcare, academic and other institutional leadership, including within the theatrical community.

I think the way folks have been coordinating this in New York is amazing, especially given the vacuum of good federal leadership (no widespread testing = no appropriate quarantining = mass social distancing, including Broadway closure). Thank you Pres. Trump for closing the White House Pandemic Office in 2018 and telling us you like low disease incidence numbers (you thought that would be good for the stock market and your re-election? think again). When Yamiche Alcindor of PBS asked him about this at a recent news conference, all he could do is call it a "nasty question" and deny it was his decision. A far cry from Harry Truman who had a sign on the Resolute desk saying "The Buck Stops Here."

Especially in this context, a good decision by a local leader at 3 o'clock on Thursday might not have been prudent at 12:30 on Tuesday. Just look at the agonizing decision the mayor is facing regarding whether or not to close schools - they remain open, despite concerns, based on a risk-benefit analysis of the possible public health ramifications of a million kids out of school, wandering the streets and spreading infection, needing daycare from parents including first responders and healthcare workers, etc. etc.

it's understandable people are scared and not sure whom to trust. But anonymous accusations of possible criminality harming the public health without proof do nothing but feed hysteria and lack of trust in sound leadership just when it is needed to flatten the curve of the pandemic. How will people come back to the theater when doing so is safe? Whom will they believe to tell them it is? That needs to be considered carefully in judging these stories, particularly possibly hearsay on an anonymous chat board. 

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 12:18pm

Hate to say it but I doubt a couple of things Fosse said as true. First off, I work for Shubert. And, while my co workers and I at the theatre next door knew about it. The article in the Times was posted on their site at around 6. When I checked it the time stamp there said less than an hour. The article was posted online at 6 and the show started at 7. I get the impression that they didn’t want to cause mass panic. Granted most saw the article the next day but still. That was all on Thursday and the shutdown started Friday afternoon.

Second, most of the house managers I know and have worked with were pissed with their supervisors. One reached out to his bosses, and the response to one of the emails he sent out was just a step by step guide from Red Cross about how to safely take off gloves, without any message from their boss who sent it. Many of them were upset because they were trying to figure out how to handle it but got nothing at all helpful as a response. That said, I highly doubt they would be out partying with folks from the Shubert offices as a result.

 

ETA that Aladdin wasn’t the only show that was going to shut down regardless of what the Broadway league had to say, Moulin Rouge canceled performances before the mass closing 

 

Updated On: 3/15/20 at 12:18 PM

[trpguyy]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 12:24pm

Islander_fan said: "ETA that Aladdin wasn’t the only show that was going to shut down regardless of what the Broadway league had to say, Moulin Rouge canceled performances before the mass closing"

Moulin Rouge’s cancelled matinee was cancelled for two reasons - an actor with a fever, and the League decision to suspend performances had already been made, but discussion over the length of suspension was still ongoing. Their producer left mid-meeting to cancel the matinee. 

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 1:20pm

Islander_fan said: "...most of the house managers I know and have worked with were pissed with their supervisors"

Any person who has evidence of possible administrative shortcomings affecting public health and safety can and should do the right thing and:

1. Use established institutional and/or governmental whistleblowing procedures to report their evidence of a chain of command problem, taking advantage of pertinent whistleblower protections;
2. Approach the NY Times and provide their evidence on the record to allow investigative follow-up reporting, taking advantage of 1st Amendment privileges protecting sources (including anonymously, though be prepared for the editors to ask why it is necessary).

We all need to protect one another and the public as a theatrical community. I don't see why anyone who might have real evidence of a problem would not do one of these things to protect others -- whether that's a fire hazard, building issue, health concern, etc., etc. It seems to me that not doing so could be considered being complicit with the problem.

The public has the right to know that the entire theatrical family works together to ensure they are safe. That way, they can be confident that it is alright to return to the theater when the COVID-19 threat has passed, and The Show Will Go On.

 

Updated On: 3/15/20 at 01:20 PM

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 4:25pm

Not to make light of the situation, but the usher must have felt like they were wearing the scartet letter when the story hit the N.Y. Times. I have a friend that works the front of the house at a theatre and he had been dreading going to work two weeks prior to the shut down. He was happy when they shut the theaters even though it will be a financial burden for him.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/15/20 at 9:09pm

SmoothLover said: "Not to make light of the situation, but the usher must have felt like they were wearing the scartet letter when the story hit the N.Y. Times. I have a friend that works the front of the house at a theatre and he had been dreading going to work two weeks prior to the shut down. He was happy when they shut the theaters even though it will be a financial burden for him."

I actually don't know anyone who works on Broadway who wasn't happy with the decision to cancel performances. And many of these individuals sadly have no other source of income (and it still remains to be seen if we will be receiving any sort of compensation). Even before the usher at the Booth/Brooks-Atkinson was diagnosed, there was a lot of aggravation that they hadn't cancelled performances. 

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 3/16/20 at 9:52am

Ushers at my theatre were having the same conversation. And the topic of who has a day job as well or who’s only source of income was ushering never came into the discussion. We all knew it was an only matter of when and not if as to when they close down and many, myself included were surprised that it took them as long as it did for the shutdown to happen.

Even this site had an article featuring tweets from various Broadway actors who all agreed that, though it may impact them financially, they were still very glad that Broadway shut down,

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 3/17/20 at 7:40pm

I may have missed an answer to this amidst all the name-calling and accusations.
Does anyone know how the gentleman in question is doing? Medically, spiritually?
I'm one of those he welcomed to the Booth and I'd like to know how he is. Thanks!

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 3/17/20 at 8:29pm

I don’t think that either Nederlander or Shubert did/could release the name of the usher in question. All articles that I read just refers to the usher as just that. No name given.

I believe that the Times article refers to them as a part time usher. The only thing I can tell you for fact is that the usher was a substitute usher.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/17/20 at 8:51pm

Islander_fan said: "I don’t think that either Nederlander or Shubert did/could release the name of the usher in question. All articles that I read just refers to the usher as just that. No name given.

I believe that the Times article refers to them as a part time usher. The only thing I can tell you for fact is that the usher was a substitute usher."

I would assume that disclosing the name of the usher would be in violation of HIPAA privacy protections. 

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 3/17/20 at 11:32pm

This is the first time I have heard about the gender of the usher.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 3/17/20 at 11:38pm

trpguyy said: "Islander_fan said: "ETA that Aladdin wasn’t the only show that was going to shut down regardless of what the Broadway league had to say, Moulin Rouge canceled performances before the mass closing"

Moulin Rouge’s cancelled matinee was cancelled for two reasons - an actor with a fever, and the League decision to suspend performances had already been made, but discussion over the length of suspension was still ongoing. Their producer left mid-meeting to cancel the matinee."

Said actor with fever tested positive for Covid-19 which was not said anywhere.

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/20/20 at 7:06am

I hope the actor at Moulin Rouge is feeling better now. From what I recall of the Moulin Rouge cast, majority are super fit and young so obviously this virus can infect anyone. 

I hope those of you who watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in its first preview week are feeling ok. Today marks 14 days since the booth usher who tested COVID-19 positive last worked there (March 6th) so hopefully no one got infected despite the potential exposure.

 

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 3/20/20 at 10:09pm

Thanks Wick. Still feeling well, no symptoms (knock wood). But I have a test scheduled with, and on the advice of, my pcp next week.
I wish someone here knew the person at the Booth. I'd like to know how the person is doing. Before anyone drags me, I'm not interested in "identification of the source". Just a shout out to say, sorry this happened to you. Get well!

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 3/21/20 at 12:35am

Wick3 said: "I hope the actor at Moulin Rouge is feeling betternow. From what I recall of the Moulin Rouge cast, majority are super fit and young so obviously this virus can infect anyone.

I hope those of you who watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfin its first preview week are feeling ok. Today marks 14 days since the booth usher who tested COVID-19 positive last worked there (March 6th) so hopefully no one got infected despite the potential exposure.

"

His wife posted on her Instagram story that he is home from the hospital and is relaxing while they both recover. 

[devonian.t]

Posted: 3/21/20 at 8:58am

A small piece of excellent news

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/21/20 at 11:18am

mailhandler777 said: "His wife posted on her Instagram story that he is home from the hospital and is relaxingwhile they both recover."

Great to hear he's ok! I hope Marjorie (the other mezzanine usher) didn't get infected and hope she is ok too.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/21/20 at 12:16pm

Marjorie is the greatest usher on Broadway.