Re-opening Procedure after Covid-19

I do believe the death count will be significantly higher if we continue or accelerate the pace at which we doing away with social distancing measures. It is not yet the time to assemble in large groups and abandon masks.
I absolutely agree the biology does not support the popular decisions made by politicians.
 
But if you are opening and worry about surfaces (I don't) there this https://www.etcconnect.com/GUV-Conveyor/GUV-Conveyor.aspx from one of our favorites. They still have the masks also.
I'm with you on the surfaces thing... our PAC is "kind of" open to tenants but the City is spending time and money "cleaning" (with some kind of misting/UV/ionizing radiation?) a building that was mostly unoccupied for 75 days. Any virus is long inactive. Perhaps they have mold or bacterial issues previously undisclosed? Beats me, but I put these kinds of efforts in the "sanitation theater" category along with temperature screenings and security/ushers/ticket scanners asking health questions... it's window dressing to signal to the public that infection control has been considered.... but we're opening anyway.
 
The boy from Oklahoma* just made an announcement:
GARTH at the Drive-ins

*Just for old times sake "Boys from Oklahoma" was on Garth's playlist back in the days when he played Willie's Saloon for a hundred bucks a night. Other songs of those times included "Wildwood Weed" and "New Tony Lamas".
 
The boy from Oklahoma* just made an announcement:
GARTH at the Drive-ins

*Just for old times sake "Boys from Oklahoma" was on Garth's playlist back in the days when he played Willie's Saloon for a hundred bucks a night. Other songs of those times included "Wildwood Weed" and "New Tony Lamas".
Cross Canadian Ragweed? I ain't no holy roller...
 
Cross Canadian Ragweed? I ain't no holy roller...
Funny you should mention that other, much lesser CCR. I was one of many who got a kick out of Cody Canada. In the world of bar bands, if lucky you end up playing at most of the local bars that featured live music. He was so intent in his Rock Star bad boy persona that wherever he played, he would talk trash about what a dump and lousy crowd at the last place they played. What he maybe didn't think about was that a large part of the audience were also at the last place they played (maybe even the bar a half block away LOL). The funniest thing was when he got some backing and was ready to move up into the not so small time level. Now there is nothing wrong with getting full sleeve tats, but someone really should have suggested he get them early enough so they could heal before shooting the full concert video. OK, enough blether from me today.
 
So we are reopening to a rental client this weekend. What's the best practice right now for blocking off a row of seats? Easiest seems to be tape, but I worry about egress concerns with anything more robust. I also fully expect people to disregard it all and do whatever they want.
 
@StradivariusBone There was a lot of discussion about that on Reddit. Some venues removed seats entirely to allow people to socially distance while getting to their seats. Was some discussion of removing seat pans so people don't try to circumvent the distancing but I think the prevailing wisdom was to take tieline or ribbon and loop it over the seat and under the seat pan and tie it off to discourage people from using the tied off seats while still allowing flexibility for the venue to adjust to large groups or more pairs of people or individuals.
 
That sounds like a good solution. Thanks! I can't believe we're opening, but here we are.
 
So we are reopening to a rental client this weekend. What's the best practice right now for blocking off a row of seats? Easiest seems to be tape, but I worry about egress concerns with anything more robust. I also fully expect people to disregard it all and do whatever they want.
That decision needs to be made by management/ownership. If that falls to your job title, I'd want the executive director to sign off on whatever is decided.
 
Welcome to Florida. They don't care about their school employees down here.

I ended up finding some pallet wrap plastic and used that to put on the rows. Worked pretty well and the Covidiots that pitch a fit about being told where to sit can easily remove it if they want.
 
Welcome to Florida. They don't care about their school employees down here.

I ended up finding some pallet wrap plastic and used that to put on the rows. Worked pretty well and the Covidiots that pitch a fit about being told where to sit can easily remove it if they want.

They should be removed from the facility, as ultimately it's up to the property owner AND lessee to insure the facility is safe for occupancy, not that anyone in FL that values his/her/their job would do so. As for Florida, at least it provides entertainment with "Florida man....."

Every one of these ill-advised re-openings of public assemblies and subsequent rise in infections further delays the recovery - a kind of "pay me now, or pay me more later" things.
 
ultimately it's up to the property owner AND lessee to insure the facility is safe for occupancy.

That's essentially what the new process is. I have to get a signed statement from the client stating that it is their obligation to follow CDC guidelines, etc. But it's toothless and pointless. I certainly don't get paid enough to enforce it, but I will do what I can to mitigate what I can.
 
That seems like a liability risk that any good lawyer could get past. Everyone involved will get dragged into it.
 
That seems like a liability risk that any good lawyer could get past. Everyone involved will get dragged into it.
Of course, the USA has a "name everybody as a defendant and let the judge decide" approach to civil law.

As Steve Adelman (lawyer and part of the Event Safety Alliance) points out, most suits will go nowhere because in tort law, the plaintiff must demonstrate proximate causality - that they sustained a loss because of, and exclusively from, the defendant's actions or negligence. PACs and arenas and theaters will be paying for defense against Covid suits until they are dismissed from the suit or the suit dismissed altogether. I expect suits to go nowhere because most PACs and theaters do not have deep pockets from which to pay claims; arenas, if not owned by a sports team (university, municipal) will be the same. Insurers are specifically excluding pandemics from new and renewal coverage... this applies to venues, tours, promoters, artists & producers, etc. When there's no purse from which to extract cash, lawyers and frivolous plaintiffs tend to crawl back into the woodwork.
 
Yeah the Adelman video on it is pretty informative. And somewhat depressing. The fact is no one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt where they got infected from. I'm trying to act as a "reasonable person" and following the ESA guidelines to the best of my ability.
 
Every one of these ill-advised re-openings of public assemblies and subsequent rise in infections further delays the recovery - a kind of "pay me now, or pay me more later" things.

Just wait until a month from now. The FL DOE Commissioner just signed an order requiring all brick and mortar schools across Florida to reopen and allow in-person classes 5 days a week. That doesn't prohibit schools from offering distance learning but it does require that teachers be present in schools and based on Florida's attitude toward the virus so far I think you can imagine a lot of students will be back in person as well.

Expect this to get far, far worse before it gets better.
 
There's not an appropriate "Like" button for Mike's comment, but from a fellow Floridian I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiment in spite of not at all liking the reality of it. I expect many teachers will take early retirement or find alternate work. This is on top of an already prevalent shortage of teachers, but at the risk of sounding political, I already think the state leadership would love to dismantle public education altogether and privatize or fund charter schools instead. I think the recent move was simply to accelerate failure and force the voucher discussion back into the spotlight. "Well if the district can't safely teach the kids, we need an alternative!" That old chestnut.
 
"Well if the district can't safely teach the kids, we need an alternative!" That old chestnut.
There's an easy retort if you hear someone bring that up -- Harvard is holding their next semester of classes online. If Harvard does not have the resources or ability to make their campus safe for staff, students, and parents, how can any other school in America be expected to?
 
Just wait until a month from now. The FL DOE Commissioner just signed an order requiring all brick and mortar schools across Florida to reopen and allow in-person classes 5 days a week. That doesn't prohibit schools from offering distance learning but it does require that teachers be present in schools and based on Florida's attitude toward the virus so far I think you can imagine a lot of students will be back in person as well.

Expect this to get far, far worse before it gets better.

I'm on an AES Convention panel that is tasked with looking at the impact of Our Viral Pandemic® on live, professional audio. We had a Zoom meeting today and it's very clear to the production professionals that the next wave will further delay a reduction in infection rates and our subsequent return to events that look more like we're used to. We're pulling together resources and people from the USA, UK, AU (so far) and still looking for audio professionals in Europe or elsewhere that have experienced re-opening and can share what they are doing *as audio professionals* in dealing with a myriad of issues presented by a viral pandemic.

The consensus of our participants is that things do not look promising for a rapid return to the 'normal of 2019'.

For a look at both optimism and frustration, the second Entertainment Town Hall meeting from May 18, right before Labor Day weekend and compare to reality as we knew it on July 1.

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The first meeting from April is here:

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While those are focused primarily on music concerts, touring and festivals, ultimately theater and sports experience the same limitations - they're made for big audiences and we aren't going to have those next month. Or the month after. Or the month after that. And every time we have another record-setting increase in infections and hospital admissions, we will re-start the 90 day clock.

And I agree that having experienced, dedicated educators leave the system makes voters ripe for exploitation... "who'll save the children?"
 

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