CDC lifts indoor mask/social distancing requirements for Vaccinated people.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 1:55pm

Link

This is a big deal. I’m curious if this will mean in four months when theatres reopen, if masks will be *advised* but not required. 

Updated On: 5/13/21 at 01:55 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:06pm

Makes logical sense in theory, but you just know that every anti-masker is just going to say "I'm vaccinated" any time they get asked to wear a mask. Plus, businesses in NY have been dropping the ball on enforcing mask mandates for months, either because they're afraid to lose business, or they just don't care about safety. This this is just going to make them all the more apathetic. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:08pm

There’s a lot to work out, obviously but this could also be an incentive to require vaccination proof to enter a theatre.

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:11pm

I think it will be optional. I know for me I’ll keep wearing my mask during flu season (Nov-Mar).

One thing I don’t hear much in the media are the number of ‘breakthrough’ cases (fully vaccinated people who test positive for covid.)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:12pm

I’ve said for a while that I’ll absolutely continue wearing my mask during cold/flu season. It’s been amazing not getting sick this past year!

Updated On: 5/13/21 at 02:12 PM

[rkade21]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:20pm

But I just purchased this mask!
 

https://guys-who-like-musicals.myshopify.com/collections/accessories/products/premium-face-mask

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:29pm

Honestly, I'm not hearing enough about how masks have PROVEN to work. I haven't had so much as a sniffle in a year. 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:32pm

Nothing would make me happier than sitting in a theatre seeing smiling faces. Hope Broadway makes a decision regarding vaccination proof.

[Theater3232]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:32pm

"The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters"  I would assume sitting shoulder to shoulder in a theater is similar to a bus or plane.

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:35pm

Theater3232 said: ""The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters" I would assume sitting shoulder to shoulder in a theater is similar to a bus or plane."

Very good point. Will be interesting to see what, if anything, changes in the next four months.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:36pm

No, the CDC just clarified and said masks are still required on public transportation, airplanes, hospitals but places like theatres it’s no longer required. However it IS still up to individual businesses to decide if they want to have a mask mandate.

[Miserent]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 2:53pm

I think it’s time we start getting used to the fact that people will absolutely continue to test positive even if they’re vaccinated, but to also keep in mind that we should see less severe cases and less deaths. 7 members of the New York Yankees just tested positive after being fully vaccinated, but 6 of them have remained asymptomatic, which is pretty great news. I just hope people start remembering that it will be totally possible and more common to test positive without actually getting sick. I just don’t want performers, crew members, ushers etc. getting swabbed before every performance and testing positive, leading to more canceled shows/shutdowns. Expect to test positive at some point, but not to necessarily get sick (or at least more than very milldly sick).

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:01pm

I too will sing everyone's praises on this new guidance... but odds are if/when I do return to the theatre, I will still be wearing a mask, even if everyone has to prove they are fully vaccinated. I have gotten used to them for a year-plus and I don't feel like giving them up. They're comfy (and warm during the winter months), they provide a great layer of protection, and they could allow me to mouth along to an entire show if I know it well enough - which nobody will hear OR see!

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:03pm

My husband and I are fully vaccinated.  Depending on the circumstances, we likely will continue to wear masks (indoors and out) for the remainder of our days.  We definitely will wear a mask in close quarters such as a theater or airplane.  Although we are both very healthy, we each have health issues, including past heart attacks.  It's mostly not an inconvenience for us to wear a mask if doing so helps guarantee a few more years on Planet Earth.  My grandfather (age 54) and uncle (age 18) died in January 1919 during that pandemic, so my family history cautions me to take extra care.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:05pm

I think masks are here to stay. I doubt we will ever see a show again where we don’t see some people wearing them.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:07pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I think masks are here to stay. I doubt we will ever see a show again where we don’t see some people wearing them."

In the audience, yes, and I really hope onstage musicians keep the masks as well. It makes them look like freakin' badasses when performing.

[Miserent]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:37pm

I don’t think masks will be forever. At this point it seems like the pandemic will never end because we’ve lived through this for almost two years, and none of us have ever experienced anything like this. If people feel more comfortable wearing masks in certain situations, they absolutely should and without judgment, but I don’t think this is the permanent new normal. An extended temporary one, but this won’t be forever. We will see the other side.

[charlie525600]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:37pm

I'm surprised how many people on this thread seem to really love masks or have no desire to ditch them when the pandemic is undercontrol. Personally, I absolutely hate wearing a mask - I have bad acne and they break me out like crazy + the redirected airflow irritate my eyes extremely easily. I'm perfectly happy to go back to gettin ~1cold/year in exchange for not wearing a mask. So glad the CDC has announced these relaxed restrictions and really hope that Broadway doesn't require masks when it reopens.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:51pm

President Biden will speak soon on the "Covid response, and new CDC mask guidance".

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 3:59pm

I am fully vaccinated.  I don't love masks, but they don't bother me.  I have become a little more lax.  I had mine off in the movie theater last week.  I am going  to use common sense when I feel I need to wear one.  Which will still continue to be more often than not.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 4:15pm

To start out with, I'm a fully vaccinated trial participant. Received placebo in the study, and have since gotten both doses of the real thing.

I think this thread is a microcosm of what we're going to see in society, as a whole. People will make their choices. Me? I no longer wear my mask outside, unless I'm around first responders (example: I was on a walk on Tuesday, and I passed a group of emergency workers helping with an accident, and I put my mask on when I walked past them).

Indoors, I'm not quite ready to drop my mask yet, though that may change in the months ahead.

But again, this is what works for me. Some will decide to discontinue mask-wearing, while others will decide to continue wearing masks. There will be some variations on both. The former should not be shamed, nor should the latter be mocked.

The time is arriving for us to learn how to co-exist with this virus. What that will mean will vary between individuals. But each of us will have to figure out what works best for us.

Updated On: 5/13/21 at 04:15 PM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 5:00pm

It seems clear that New York and thus Broadway will require proof of vaccine or test result. It will not be done on the honor system. I think masks will be optional. 

Now that we hear that Hamilton will require cast and crew to be vaccinated, I assume everyone will follow that lead. I note however that what Seller says about not requiring vaccines Will still require compliance with state protocols which (unless something changes dramatically) will include either vaccine or test result within 1-3 days.

Updated On: 5/13/21 at 05:00 PM

[stoptheworld38]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 8:13pm

I think a lot can and probably will change between now and when Broadway reopens. For one a lot more people will be vaccinated by September. Yes, I realize now the vast majority of Americans are still not fully vaccinated, but the number that is is going up every day, and if you compare the number now to what it was 4 months ago, it's obviously way higher, so look ahead to the fall...

My guess is theatres would rather play it safe with the announcements/protocols now and say they will be following whatever CDC guidelines (including mask-wearing) is needed at the time of and ongoing from reopening, and then update/adjust as needed, depending on how things progress. Meaning, it makes more sense to say now that masks will be required and then decide closer to the reopening that they won't be necessary, rather than vice versa.

Like pretty much everyone I've been wearing a mask for about a year now, and while I've gotten much more used to them than I was starting out (and am of course well aware there are far worse things) I do have sensory issues (that come with the fact that I'm on the autism spectrum) meaning it is harder for me to wear one for wear one for an extended period of time than it is for the average person. For example, I have very little problem wearing one in the grocery store, but I have made the decision to not work outside the home until they aren't required, as I don't think I could comfortably get through a shift with one on the whole time. Meaning, when they are no longer required, I don't intend to keep wearing one with few exceptions. Long before this point, my very strong desire to see live theatre significantly outweighs my adversities to mask-wearing, and I intend to attend any local/community shows as soon as possible (this summer), mask or no mask, but probably won't go to Broadway itself (which I was supposed to do last spring) until they aren't required. My hope is that will be as soon as fall. (Still waiting on Hadestown to announce dates, as that's what I'll be seeing).

Anyway, I think as to whether masks will be required vs optional when Broadway reopens is still too soon to say yet, it really could go either way. But this news from the CDC plus vaccine numbers going up every day is definitely promising - as long as people do their part to get vaccinated and be honest as to whether or not they are.

[JayElle]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 12:52am

rkade21 said: "But I just purchased this mask!
 

You'll need it come fall season.  Don't toss.

https://guys-who-like-musicals.myshopify.com/collections/accessories/products/premium-face-mask"

 

[JayElle]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 12:55am

Wick3 said: "I think it will be optional. I know for me I’ll keep wearing my mask during flu season (Nov-Mar).

One thing I don’t hear much in the media are the number of ‘breakthrough’ cases (fully vaccinated people who test positive for covid.)"

NY Daily News announced a bunch of Yankees have caught it post vax.