This is me, masked up for the first movie I saw in a cinema in more than 14 months. It was May 18, 2021, and I hadn’t stepped inside a movie theater since March 12, 2020. I only felt comfortable returning because it was a very large screen (341 seats), there were only maybe a couple of dozen other critics in the room, and the studio hosting this press screening — Paramount, for A Quiet Place: Part II — implemented the same COVID-safe measures for the screening that it is using on film and TV sets to ensure everyone’s safety.
I’ve been to a few other press screenings and public multiplex showings since then, all with limited capacity, all with a mask mandate. But now, in the UK — I live in London — all those precautions are about to be lifted. And I won’t go back to cinemas unless I am sure they won’t be very crowded (like for an early-morning weekday showing). And I’ll keep wearing a mask.
Are you comfortable going back to cinemas yet? If not, what will it take for you to be comfortable? Or, perhaps you’ve been going to the movies all along during the pandemic, when possible, in which case I’d ask: How safe did that feel, and were you ever worried about your safety?
(I’m reviving my “questions” posts — just on a weekend basis — as an experiment, to see if there’s any interest in them. I’m also posting these as free posts at Substack or Patreon. You don’t need to be a paying subscriber at either service if you’d prefer to comment at either of them, but you will need to register with either site to comment.)
I am not comfortable going back. Even with the full vaccination, I am concerned about still catching the virus (I know the vaccine helps, at will at least reduce the symptoms, but I can still get infected). Even going masked won’t help because I live in an area that’s very trumpian Red on the map and most of the residents here aren’t masking themselves.
My understanding is still that a mask is much more of an outgoing protection than an incoming one.
Right now I’m planning a small boardgaming meeting at my place next weekend: that’s not going to be masked, but it’s a small gathering, sensible people who won’t bellow across the table, everyone fully vaccinated + 2 weeks, as much ventilation as we can stand, and antigen tests for everyone beforehand. That’s a level I feel happy with, but I can’t picture any British cinema trying to enforce even a mask rule, especially once the legal restrictions are gone.
(UK Games Expo, the UK’s largest boardgame/etc. show which is happening at the start of August, has just announced not only that it won’t be requiring masks or vaccinations or tests but that staff and exhibitors are explicitly prohibited from requiring people to mask or excluding them from games if they don’t. GenCon in the US and Essen Spiel in Germany are being more sensible.)
It’s a bit of both: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/11/933903848/wear-masks-to-protect-yourself-from-the-coronavirus-not-only-others-cdc-stresses
My family and I (thankfully) have been fully vaccinated since April, and our neighborhood in NYC seems to have relatively high vaccination rates and fewer COVID cases at the moment, which has been reassuring. We ventured out a few weeks ago to see In the Heights, which was a great experience—we booked tickets to a sparsely attended matinee show at a theater with reclining seats (i.e. more distance between moviegoers), and we had our masks on (though now I have to deal with my glasses fogging up in the air-conditioned climate).
Yesterday we went out again to see Black Widow. Matinee and reclining seats again, but there were a lot more people this time, not all of them masked. And the journey to and from the theater was stressful: fewer trains running, which meant overcrowding, and too many riders unmasked. We’re letting down our guard too soon.
With the delta variant going around, cases are inching back up, so our personal comfort level for going to theaters may not last for long. We’re all vaxxed up and continuing to follow safety protocols, but we don’t want to be even asymptomatic vectors for COVID and we’d rather not catch it ourselves, not even the mild version. So I don’t know if I’ll be heading back to theaters anytime soon. As a Marvel fan, I really want to see Shang-Chi in theaters, but I guess we’ll see what the state of things is in September.
I’ve got two shots of Pfizer in me, and I’m fully comfortable going back. I actually started going back when Alamo Drafthouse reopened, back in late December, because they had a good reopening plan and because I think their physical layout has intrinsic social distancing built in, unlike traditional theaters. Felt safer to me than, say, the grocery store, and I was going there once a week.
Of course, I’m socially distant by nature and avoid crowded showtimes when possible just because I dislike people, so there’s also that….
My wife and I are both fully vaxxed up. We went and saw quiet place 2 when it came out. No masks were required for vaxxed people and we didn’t wear any. I don’t wear a mask anywhere anymore since the requirements were dropped. That was the whole point of getting vaxxed. I live in Illinois, Chicago suburbs.
Yes, Delta is creeping up but I’m not too worried about it, honestly. I’m a total introvert and tend to avoid crowds.
Not much in theaters I would go see right now anyway so I’m good streaming.
The point of getting vaxxed is to minimize your risk of being hospitalized or dying. With Delta going around—much more highly contagious and better at immune evasion, with infections possible with just a few seconds’ exposure and possibly even outdoors—you can still get unpleasantly sick. And, even if asymptomatic, you can pass along the virus to someone else (immunocompromised; children; people who haven’t been vaxxed for whatever reason even if they want to) who could wind up getting sick or dying. Masking up anytime you’re around people is still a good precaution.
Here’s a good rundown of what we know so far.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/17/1017075240/delta-variant-is-spreading-fast-and-new-cases-are-rising-is-time-to-mask-up-agai