https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/close-the-theaters-the-opera-the-concert-halls-now.html
Entertainment is woven into the city’s economy. Broadway shows sold nearly 15 million tickets last season, bringing in $1.8 billion. When you go out for a meal, a drink, a show, or a basketball game, you’re helping 196,000 New Yorkers pay the rent. Your fun is their livelihood, and many of those workers — dancers, janitors, busboys, ushers, freelance musicians, fundraisers, production assistants, and so on — have little or no insurance or job security. As always, hardship hits hardest among those least able to withstand it.
It’s hard to imagine New York without its nightlife, even for a month or two, and especially at a time when the need for distraction is sharpest. That’s precisely why the decision to stifle it is so agonizing to contemplate. So far, decisions about social distancing have been left up to individuals. If you’re sick, stay home. If you’re feeling fine, knock yourself out. But each of us has a different attitude toward risk and civic responsibility, or what “sick” even means. I shouldn’t have to trust that my seatmate’s cough is the result of seasonal allergies. The frail music lover struggling toward her seat, pain be damned, shouldn’t have to wonder whether the performance will be worth exposure to a bug that could kill her in a couple of weeks.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
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