Broadway theater district near Times Square in New York, USA, which was turned off on October 13 last year (local time). At the time, the Broadway League, an organization representing Broadway producers and theater owners, announced that it would stop selling all tickets until the end of May 2021 due to the pandemic new coronavirus infection (Corona 19). EPA=Yonhap News
Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who is the general manager of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in the United States, predicted that the Broadway theater could be lit again this fall.
According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 10th (local time), Mr. Pouch attended a virtual conference hosted by the American Performing Artists Association the day before and said, “We expect theaters and other performance venues to open sometime in the fall of 2021.” .
Pouch pointed out that the reopening schedule of theaters, which are closed for nearly a year due to the corona 19 pandemic, “depends on the time to achieve group immunity.” The time to achieve collective immunity, Mr. Pouch says, is the time when 70-85% of the U.S. population finish vaccination.
“If everything goes well, it will happen at some point in the fall of 2021,” he said. “In the early and mid-autumn period, people will be able to perform on stage or watch in the audience with confidence.”
If the vaccine is successfully distributed, Pouch predicts that theaters with excellent ventilation facilities and air filters will not be restricted to performances around the fall. If ventilation facilities and rules for wearing masks are in place after group immunization, “at that time, almost all seats will be able to operate normally,” said Pouch.
The 41 Broadway theaters, which extinguished on March 12, last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, are expected to close by at least the end of May this year. It is an unprecedented crisis in the American arts scene, including the Broadway Theater District in New York. According to a survey last week by AFTA, an American culture and arts sponsoring organization, the loss of the American culture and arts industry is estimated to be $14.8 billion (about 16 trillion won). More than one-third of non-profit culture and arts organizations were found to have fired their employees or took unpaid leave.
Reporter Han Young-hye [email protected]