Many Broadway Theaters To Drop Vaccine Mandate In May. — Page 4

This wouldn’t work on Broadway at all. Broadway needs all the money it can get. If they did this they can loose business. Think of someone who’s visits the city on a vacation. Say, they have been waiting for forever to see Wicked on Broadway. However, the only time they can go is a performance that is one where they aren’t checking for vaccines and they aren’t comfortable with that so they can’t go.



A small local movie theatre is one thing. A massive Broadway theatre is a whole different ballgame.

> I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy

I am two of those things. AND i have a vulnerable household to protect.

(and also: NO ONE knows enough about long covid to not be afraid of it.)

again: you got vaxxed and boosted for you. you wear a mask for the people around you.

I’m double vaxxed and boosted myself, and I am no anti-vaxxer. I just think it’s a little silly to say that dropping the vaccine mandate is a huge mistake and using all the recent show cancellations as an example, when every single cast and crew member of those shows has been fully vaccinated. That still didn’t stop it from spreading. Omicron got to quite a number of my coworkers at the hospital I work at, and all of us are vaccinated and boosted. At this point, get your vaccines and wear masks if you need to or if it makes you feel more comfortable, but a vaccine isn’t going to prevent infection. Will it lessen severity? Most likely. But people will still catch and spread it, regardless of vaccination status. If enough people got the shot from the get-go, maybe things would look very different right now, but unfortunately that isn’t our reality. As much as I would like to go to a show unmasked, I think it makes more sense right now to keep the mask mandate over the vaccine mandate. Most people who haven’t gotten jabbed at this point most likely aren’t going to, so we need to learn to make due as best we can.

The Broadway COVID Safety Team are not directly employed by Shubert, just as Mobile Health, the company that does testing for many Broadway theaters, shows, and even readings, is also not directly employed by Shubert. They have a contracted relationship, more akin to Sweet Concessions.

whatever2 said: ">I am fully vaccinated and boosted and young and generally healthy

I am two of those things. AND i have a vulnerable household to protect.

(and also: NO ONE knows enough about long covid to not be afraid of it.)

again: you got vaxxed and boosted for you. you wear a mask for the people around you."

Yes exactly this. I have immunocompromised people in my house and this makes me really feel less safe working as a FOH staff.


Also on a side note towards the conversation about the temperatures in theaters: theaters are usually an icebox, but many theaters have not decided it’s the time in the season yet to turn on the air, so they’re still using the winter system making it very hot.

itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "The Shubert Org uses a company called SwifTest that Jeff Witing owns and runs out of Open Jar. Is Shubert behind that?"

Yes, that is my understanding, that the Shuberts own it. If someone can document something contrary to what I was told by a reliable person and stated here, please do so.

Wick3 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "The pandemic is not over, and it will likely be a long slog towards endemicity which may take years.When more people fall victim to severe COVID because the unvaccinated are now welcome inside most Broadway theaters, the blame will be placed squarely on You-Know-Who. Many shows will lose a large slice of their audience and suffer because of this. I can't begin to imagine how much of a bloodbath August / September will be.

Sigh."



London’s West End doesn’t have a vaccine mandate (some require face masks and a 1-2 require recent neg test) and they’re doing fine or I haven’t heard of reports they’re majorly suffering financially.

"

What is West End’s testing policy if they have one? Are they only testing if showing symptoms? Or they testing everyone once they walk in the building like Broadway? I’m just wondering now that the vaccine policy is lifted for audiences, does the vaccine and testing policy for performers get lifted too? If not, maybe it’s time for Broadway to make the move to test only when symptoms occur instead of scheduled testing of everyone.

Even for performers? They’re not testing for covid at all?

Jordan Catalano said: "It makes no sense. But like a lot of things with so many of us, our comfort levels are all over the place and make no sense if we really stop to think about them."

I think it is important to recognize this. Not everyone is the same (by a long shot) and most of us have been through a lot psychologically while riding the covid roller coaster. I think it is important that we be aware of the science including he science of our own minds, even though that does not mean we act with full rationality. I also think it is important to be respectful of others who are at a different place along the continuum (so long as their choices do not adversely affect our own well-being).

Thank you Jordan Catalano for your input. I watched CABARET back in Nov 2021 and they asked to see my recent negative covid test before entry. I did look into it and you are right that nowadays at CABARET a proof of double vax is sufficient.

When I was in London in early March, no one checked my vaccination card when I watched West End shows. Yes I did wear an n95 mask while watching the show.

I agree with what you said in regards to comfort levels. Here in NYC, I feel most people are comfortable eating indoors in a restaurant and note most restaurants don't check vaccine cards anymore.

As mentioned above somewhere, TeleCharge (the Shuberts) have extended their Refund/Exchange policy through May because of the new ruling. So far, the Jujamcyns and TicketMaster (the Nederlanders) aren't showing anything. What do we think the chances are of them doing so? I have two tickets (one from each company) that I am trying to get rid of and getting a refund would be WAY easier than trying to sell them somehow/somewhere.

“get a grip”? Who actually says that anymore. I’ve yet to talk to one person from Philly who’s happy about him reinstating the mask mandate. CDC has Philly in the low category anyway so there’s no reason for him to reinstate it. All he’s doing is trying to reintroduce covid fear and change the discussion back to covid. He can’t get crime under control so let’s talk about something he can control- covid mandates.

HogansHero said: "Jordan Catalano said: "It makes no sense. But like a lot of things with so many of us, our comfort levels are all over the place and make no sense if we really stop to think about them."

I think it is important to recognize this. Not everyone is the same (by a long shot) and most of us have been through a lot psychologically while riding the covid roller coaster. I think it is important that we be aware of the science including he science of our own minds, even though that does not mean we act with full rationality. I also think it is important to be respectful of others who are at a different place along the continuum (so long as their choices do not adversely affect our own well-being)."

I have been fascinated by the psychology of crowds on this. I attended a convention for work (vaccination was checked) where attendees went from wearing masks in the morning to taking them off in the afternoon.(I kept mine on.) I watched an older crowd applaud the abandonment of vaccine requirements and masks at Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco on the day the city dropped mandates. A few days later, everyone wore masks at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Curran, a few blocks away. A Berkeley Rep worker, checking vaccines and masks, thanked my wife and I when we saw the new musical Swept Away there, as others had been giving the poor guy a hard time.

This thread alone gives one a clear view of the divergence of views. I fall on the spectrum of being more cautious while trying to see theater I really want to see. I’m not ready to attend crowded theaters for fun without vaccine and mask requirements, because it wouldn’t be enjoyable for me. Maybe I’m too cautious. Maybe Long COVID won’t be a problem for the vaccinated and boosted. Maybe the risks aren’t as serious as I believe. But my family is in the midst of a Covid scare right now.

We’re all different, and no one has a monopoly on rationality. Theater is just different. It’s crowded and indoors. It was always going to be the toughest one for me, especially because I have to pay to attend. The new Broadway policy is too lax for me, unless I get more information, but no one is forcing me to spend thousands of dollars to go. Honestly, I hope my cautiousness is misplaced.