Broadway will be "mask-optional" starting July 1, 2022 — Page 6

pagereynolds said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "pagereynolds said: "OhHiii said: "Michael Kras said: "Hard disagree on Long COVID. This is an extremely complex post-infection issue that can manifest in literally hundreds of different symptoms, some of which result in loss of quality of life or even disability. It's not easy to diagnose, classify, or track, and because of that it's easy to ignore or dismiss.Sometimes, the effects of Long COVID don't show up for weeks or months after the acute infection.

The fact that mask requirements aren't still in place everywhere doesn't mean Long COVID isn't an issue; it means that our leaders have decided to act like it isn't one."

I'm not saying it doesn't exist as an issue. I'm saying that as an after effect that, by your own admission, doesn't have any sort of trend behind it, hundreds ofpossiblesymptoms, no distinct window for diagnosis, it is understandably not a factor in decision-making. We can't expect leaders to have a crystal ball, nor can we expect that every single solution is going to be palatable for every single person. Nor--as we've seen with the complete and utter chaos of the supply chain, economy, etc that's ALSO completely desecrated quality of life for MANY--can the whole of society remain in a lurch until everyone is 100% comfortable with being in public spaces without a mask. It's not how any aspect of life works. And it's wild that people think that stamping their feet at the slightest update to protocol is actually going to produce a different result.

You don't like that masks are optional in Broadway theaters? Don't go. It's simple.

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A LOT of people aren't going to go. The equation for producers will be to find out just how many. For older, subscription audiences, I suspect the mask mandate will be back by September.

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0% chance that happens. The genie is not getting put back in the bottle. It's done. I suspect we'll see more masks in Broadway theaters than some other crowded places, but it'll still be well under 50%"

Actually much closer to 100% chance of some theaters going back to masking, especially if there's a new variant in the fall and our numbers skyrocket like last December when half of the theaters were empty."

You are living in a fantasy world. I'm not saying there won't be a new variant or numbers going up, but it's not going to change mask policies unless something gets really, really dire. And that would be more than just an uptick in cases. Look at schools. We certainly have had spikes since NY and other northeast schools removed masks in March and no mask policies are coming back despite a lot of chirping.

Highland Guy said: "OhHiii said: "With the lifting of mask requirements, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some improvement in getting tourists back into shows. The requirement has been abarrierfor many rather than an attraction. Again, because literallyevery otherfacet of daily life doesn't require a mask, but allows you to wear them if you feel more comfortable."

Not quite. Late at night this past weekend, I went to the Emergency Room for a mouse bite on my hand (happy to say, both the mouse and I survived). For the two hours I was in the waiting room before seeing a doctor, literallyeveryperson who came through the door was required to wear a mask. If they didn't have one, the door guard gave them one. If anyone removed their mask, they were told to put it back on. All medical staff members wore a mask. The cleaning crew wore a mask. The Police Officers who came in and out wore a mask.

I will place my faith in the medical community, not the Broadway community, and continue to wear my mask.

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Wait, so we're not going to discuss getting bitten by a mouse?!

poisonivy2 said: "It's nuts how ppl go to the grocery store, ride on the subway, visit friends and family, get on a plane, go to work where large portions are unmasked, but somehow Broadway is the one place masking should be sacrosanct.^"

^This.

In the SF Bay Area, sporting venues, many museums, supermarkets, transit and on and on have been eliminating their mandates over the past 3-4 months. There has been no huge spike in cases, hospitalizations, deaths etc., in fact I'm not really aware of any meaningful increase at all. And that speaks to me more than any one off piece of anecdotal data of what this or that venue is doing regarding masking.

Broadway has been behind the curve. It's been 2 years and 3 months. You can't expect people to stay masked indefinitely. It's just not sustainable. And yet those that wish to continue to wear a mask may do so. Despite predictions to the contrary, I believe the same effect on attendance that occurred when the vaccine mandate was dropped will also occur with this change. None.

Hairspray0901 said: "Planes unmasked WAY too soon. See: all the flight cancellations due to airline staff being sick with Covid."

"See" what? That's not a thing that happened. In fact, airplanes have been one of the safest places in the world to be during the pandemic due to air circulating between 20 and 30 times every hour through HEPA filters, in addition to the overhead air vents circulating air constantly. 

So much baseless fearmongering on here.

We’re far more likely to see a rethinking of protocol for COVID cases within a Broadway company than a return to mask requirements. And thinking this policy change will negatively affect box office grosses is, frankly, delusional.
 

The issue this winter and spring wasn’t necessarily that Broadway companies were debilitated by illness- it was that if anyone tested positive, they had to withdraw from the show for well over a week. And that remains the case. 
 

And while long COVID is indeed serious and a cause for concern, it is very much worth mentioning that there is no real medical consensus on what it actually entails or how concerning it should be. It’s been used to describe over 200 symptoms that range from slightly inconvenient to debilitating and from lasting a few weeks to months or years. Lots of percentages have been thrown around on this thread for how common it is, but they’ve all been cherry picked to be the most dire. 
 

Covid is serious and still can be deadly. But it’s not spring of 2020 anymore, and it’s starting to resemble any number of endemic diseases we’ve learned to live with- even ones that can kill, like the flu. I’m not exactly cheering on this decision, but it’s also getting hard to square the mask policy with how I and my friends have been living our lives over the last year. 

Updated On: 6/22/22 at 06:53 PM

I had finally come back to theatergoing...and now, I'll be absent as of July. The friends of mine who are currently suffering from COVID are having really awful experiences with it, and the theater was one place where I was feeling relatively safe. It is hardly a huge sacrifice to wear a mask for a few hours when you know you will be in a room surrounded at close range by strangers--no matter how long the pandemic lasts. If we as Americans can't even make that small of a sacrifice, we're in serious trouble.

Bad decision, Broadway.  See ya later.

Lot666 said: "peterparker1 said: "There’s a handful of posts here about not going to theatre because masks aren’t mandatory anymore. That doesn’t take away your decision to wear a mask. So explain why my not wearing a mask is troublesome to you, if you still wear a mask? Why do you care what other people are doing? Shouldn’t you worry about you and your health and safety?"

Is it possible that you truly don't know how ignorant that sounds?"

It’s not ignorant the mask is an amulet and does very little to “ stop the spread “

"Consistent use of a face mask or respirator in indoor public settings was associated with lower odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result (adjusted odds ratio = 0.44). Use of respirators with higher filtration capacity was associated with the most protection, compared with no mask use."

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm

It's almost like sitting in a Bway theater is....I don't know...DIFFERENT then the things you list.   MOST of those things do not have me sitting practically shoulder to shoulder for 2+ hours, inevitably breathing in droplets of some 500 to 1500 STRANGERS.   Yes, the subway gets crowded - and I actually saw MANY people wearing masks when I was in the city 2x in the last few weeks.  We were NEVER the only ones doing so. 

Is there any guarantee that we won't still catch covid?  Of course not, but that's always been the case. And yes, I know that my odds of becoming SERIOUSLY ill due to it are very slim - but I'd rather not get ill at all.

Other cultures (mostly Asian, from my awareness) have often worn masks when they've been sick - with a cold, the flu, etc - so as not to infect the people around them.  At first, I thought it was quite odd when I became aware of it a few years ago - but now I very much see the sense in it, why wouldn't we all WANT to help protect others (as well as ourselves)?

I think I’d be a little more relaxed about this if I hadn’t just had a truly awful bout with COVID. I’m a healthy, early 30s person whose been vaccinated and boosted, and the latest round was truly the most sick I’ve ever been in my life. And only now, a full month later, am I actually fully recovered. I didn’t die (obviously) but I would prefer not to go through that again. That’s all to say, the virus still feels prominent and dangerous, with shows still canceling due to COVID illnesses; and sitting in a theater does feel different than some of those other outings. I fully understand the need to “keep living our lives,” but I don’t think that means “pretend like the last two years never happened and everything is fine.” …I don’t know.

To those insisting that the majority of people are against this and, thus, will stop coming, a quick survey of which posts in this thread are getting likes over others, it's clear where the majority is on this issue. But keep making pretzels out of yourselves, it's really productive.

 

musikman said: "poisonivy2 said: "It's nuts how ppl go to the grocery store, ride on the subway, visit friends and family, get on a plane, go to work where large portions are unmasked, but somehow Broadway is the one place masking should be sacrosanct."

This does not take into account that in most of these places and situations, people are mobile or have the freedom to move around or get out, or may only be there for a short amount of time. In the theatre you may be sat directly next to or in front of someone who is coughing up a storm. For 2+ hours. My parents will not choose seats that aren’t on the aisle so that they can get up in the event someone around them seems sick. They also won’t be attending performances for the foreseeable future with the mandate being dropped.

Additionally, for many of the situations you mentioned above, there are also people who cannot or will not partake in any of those precisely because many are unmasked. They felt safe in a theatre because of the mandate, and was one of the few places left in public indoors where this was the case. Now that it’s being taken away, they won’t feel safe.


How is this any worse than an airplane? In an airplane you're in confined spaces with people for the duration of the flight with very poor air circulation.


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