Live performances at theaters and other venues could resume with relatively few restrictions “sometime in the fall of 2021 … if enough people get vaccinated,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during an online conversation as part of a virtual Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) conference on January 9. Theaters, performing arts centers, concert halls and other live music venues throughout the U.S. have been closed since last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the inability to tour and perform live has had a serious economic impact on artists, presenters and others in the field.
A survey released last week by Americans for the Arts, a national advocacy organization, estimated that financial losses in the sector to be $14.8 billion and revealed that more than one-third of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations have felt compelled to layoff or furlough employees in the wake of the ongoing public health crisis.
“We’ll be back in the theaters… Performers will be performing. Audiences will be enjoying it … It will happen,” Fauci sought to reassure online viewers during the annual conference that was forced to go entirely online in light of the pandemic. A nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it, APAP generally draws thousands of people to New York City each January for its conference.
During his conversation with Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (on whose board he also serves), Fauci acknowledged that “being closed off to access to the live performing arts” has added to “the gloom of the situation.” He said: “With an effective level of herd immunity, you can restore some sense of normalcy.” Fauci, who also is the longtime chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation and chief medical advisor for President-Elect Joe Biden, cited the need to vaccinate between 70-85 percent of the population to achieve/attain herd immunity and noting that the current vaccines are 94-95% efficacious. “If everything goes right, this will occur sometime in the fall of 2021 so that by the time we get to the early to mid-Fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage, as well as people in the audience.”
He expressed serious concern that “There’s still some skepticism about the vaccines … amazingly crazy skepticism.” Citing “the extraordinary divisiveness in our society that is so intense that it clouds logical reasoning,” he urged people to take what’s happening more seriously and adhere to public health measures. ‘We need to get the level of community spread as low as we possibly can,” Fauci said, citing the need for continued vigilance in wearing masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing.
He spoke of asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, noting that about 40 percent of those affected have no symptoms at all and that slightly more than 50 percent of infections stem from exposure to those who are asymptomatic. In other words, people who are asymptomatic carriers of the virus are unwittingly causing others to get seriously ill and to possibly die.
Even after getting vaccinated, people should continue to follow public health guidelines, Fauci said. “People who have been vaccinated can’t feel comfortable sitting in an audience with others who may not have been vaccinated. You still should be wearing a mask.”
Fauci advised that theaters and other live performance venues should engage the services of engineering consultants to ensure that there is adequate ventilation and air flow for the safety of all and to reduce the virus transmission rate. Besides addressing ventilation issues and installing any requisite air filters, Fauci said that venues should have hand sanitizers available and continue to require audience members to wear masks – something he believes may be a norm for some time. He also suggested that venues could follow the lead of some U.S.-based airlines by adopting rules requiring audience members to provide negative test results in order to be seated. “I think you can then start getting back to almost full capacity of seating,” he said.
While recognizing that touring revenue is the lifeblood for many performing artists, Fauci noted that their ability to resume safely touring is dependent on infection rates where they are coming from and where they are going. This has implications for routing tours once they resume. In response to a question, he said that while the same applies to international touring artists seeking to perform in the U.S., he is more concerned that other countries won’t want U.S.- artists to go there due to high infection rates here.
Fauci urged those in the performing arts field to help set an example for others, noting that “people look up to who their heroes are” and encouraging artists to engage in public health campaigns. Theaters and other large venues also can be used as locations for vaccinations, he added.
Immediately following the online conversation with Dr. Fauci, APAP hosted a live-streamed panel discussion on Reopening and Restarting: Safety Protocols, Strategies and Investments. Panelists examined steps to be taken in preparing for the resumption of live events and touring as audiences return and capacities increase.
The APAP Conference – which also features an array of virtual professional development sessions and artist showcases, as well as virtual exhibit hall, online pitch sessions, affinity group meeting and networking opportunities – continues through January 12. More information on APAP may be found on its website: www.apap365.org.
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