PACKED
IN
TIGHT
“I’m very nervous and concerned for working conditions for front of house staff [and] back of house crews because these theaters were not designed [for] social distancing. [They’re] meant to accommodate as many people as they can to fill needs of owners and producers.
”
Literally… So Many Contact Points
I was of course running late. I ran up the steps at the 42nd Street’s 8th Ave subway exit, pulling myself up with the staircase railing and bolted onto the street. I wiped the sweat from my brow as I entered the security line of the theater. I opened my bag, touching the bottom of it that was on the subway floor so security could check my belongings. I picked at my face while I nervously pushed past people still waiting in line to enter the theater. I saw my friend I was meeting and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. As we entered the theater and found ushers with Playbills, she handed me my ticket.We got to our seats and saw our other friends and gave them hugs and kisses.
We got settled, holding onto the armrests of the seats, and got ready for the show to start. During intermission, I decided to use the bathroom, touching the fixtures and nobs but making sure to wash my hands in the interim. I purchased candy from the bar, sat back down in my seat, and shared the candy with my friends. Once the show ended, we moved through the crowd towards the exit, even holding onto my friend’s hand to make sure we stuck together. Outside, I rubbed my nose because of an itch and with a final handshake, we ended the night and parted ways.
My belief to why New York City was the epicenter of the outbreak is because of its density. One needs to be cognizant of how many frequently touched areas are within the city. I wrote the quick story above to illustrate how many contact points (bolded) there can be in a theater, and how easily it would’ve been for me to contract COVID-19 and spread it to the people around me. Human beings are social creatures and we use touch to convey certain emotions. We also have ticks where we touch our faces and lick our lips. These are instinctual and difficult to control. When pointing out the issues that Broadway must overcome during this time, we need to be cognizant that human beings aren’t perfect. We will forget to not touch their face, hug a friend, or grip a banister. But to return, patrons need to feel safe and see proactive action from all parties to insure a minimal threat of transmission.
I’m lucky enough to be in close proximity with two of Broadway’s finest house managers from The Shubert Organization. If you don’t know what a house manager is, think of them as the CEO of that specific theater. They are in charge of the entire front of house and backstage staff. Some like to joke that they are the “judge, jury, and executioner.” I am keeping the identities of the two house managers anonymous because in our interviews, I encouraged them to be as honest as possible. I did not want their honesty to have an effect on their current employment. Our interviews were so telling and informative, that I will call upon them in other areas of my research.
In my interviews, the two house managers expressed concerns on how Broadway was not prepared to handle this sort of crisis. When the threat of Coronavirus first arrived in New York, one house manager was embarrassed with how Shubert was vacillating on the looming threat. “We were wearing gloves and masks but then we weren’t” said the house manager, “our theater owners would’ve been worried the optics were bad.” Both house manager went into detail on how their main priority was to keep their employees safe. One even had all their ushers wash their hands separately before leaving and encouraged them to take breaks or leave if they felt ill. Overall, upper management at Shubert wasn’t sure if safety came before optics in the few days prior to the shutdown.
You Want to Be In the Room Where It Happens? Know a House Manager.
Both house managers described the impossible nature of social distancing within theaters. Coupled with higher volume of patrons in general and space in New York being limited, Broadway theaters have not evolved to accommodate for changing times. Both of their theaters were built before 1930 and handled the customs nicely of theater goers then. Entering a theater in New York today, you’re met with a huge line and crowd outside, long lines inside, married with people invading your personal space to move past you. Theaters are designed to achieve maximum capacity in the smallest amount of space to increase capital for producers and theater owners. And hey, that’s fine. But, to solve this crisis, we need to be creative. And, nothing boosts creativity than immovable limitations.
“We will do everything possible to keep people safe.”
How COVID-19 Can Spread In a Theater
Here, we’re going to show how the novel Coronavirus can spread in a theater. I’ve decided to enlist the help of medical students at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami and other physicians who are currently working with Coronavirus patients here in Miami-Dade county.
EWW, GROSS.
We all can agree, that video is pretty disgusting.
What I find interesting is that the person wearing proper face protection is then engulfed with germs, possibly having the Coronavirus living on their clothing and shoes. In a theater setting, you’re bound to get sick. In addition, I was surprised how far the germs can spread even when sneezing into your elbow or hand. You are less likely to get germs attaching to your body, but you’re more likely to get someone else sick who is within 6 feet of you. And open sneezing? Game over.
Special thanks to Leah Colucci from University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine for the video.
Infection in the Theater
This video is a quick representation of how many people can be affected by one infected person in the theater. The red square with the blue outline is patient zero who sneezes or coughs without any protection. The surrounding red squares are people that become infected from patient zero. The yellow squares are people potentially infected, and the green are people that won’t be infected by the cough or sneeze.
I spaced the seats vertically by 1/2 centimeters which equals 5 feet (the depth of an actual row including the can).
From talking with physicians, there wasn’t a clear consensus on how far a sneeze or a cough can really travel, and that disturbed me. So, to find answers I did my own research and found the following:
1. A sneeze and or cough can travel around a maximum of 12 feet
2. Downstream of a sneeze or cough can last for 1.5 minutes
3. Primary purpose of coughing and sneezing is to get rid of malicious particles in your body, so a cough can travel up to 50 mph and a sneeze can travel around 150 mph. The power of cough or sneeze depends on the individual
4. The droplets become less dense the further they travel, but droplets still hang in the air with the ability to carry disease
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-how-far-and-how-fast-a-sneeze-carries-contagious-germs
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-sneeze-fluid-dynamics-in-photos/
https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/04/10/sneeze-cough-animations-coronavirus-pandemic-eg-orig.cnn
https://www.lung.org/blog/sneeze-versus-cough