Dancers on stage, on September 24 in New York, during a rehearsal of the opera “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” by Terence Blanchard, the first work by a black musician performed in the history of TIMOTHY A. CLARY
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Faced with the threat of the Omicron variant, the prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York will demand from all its musicians and the public a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to be at the “forefront” of security, a he announced on Wednesday.
With 3,000 people employed every day between orchestra and technical teams, “our population is by far the largest in the country for a non-profit organization in the performing arts sector. That is why we have to be at the forefront. health and safety, ”opera director Peter Gelb said in a statement.
The Metropolitan Opera had to close its doors for a year and a half because of the pandemic, which had hit New York City hard, which put the institution in financial difficulty. He had to start long negotiations with his teams to agree on salary cuts.
The opera house, located at Lincoln Center on Manhattan Island, had already imposed compulsory vaccination on teams and the public for its reopening on September 27. Since then, 160,000 spectators have been welcomed there in 59 performances.
The booster dose will be required “to enter the Met” from January 17 for those eligible, that is, six months after receiving the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and two months after the dose. unique Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“Those who are not eligible will be able to continue entering (the Met Opera) but will have to receive their injection soon after becoming eligible,” the institution writes.
The Met Opera ensures that it acts by following the health recommendations of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), to anticipate more contamination due to the Omicron variant.
The announcement comes as the United States, officially the country most bereaved by the pandemic, has just exceeded 800,000 deaths from Covid-19. In New York State, 71 people have died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, according to the official daily toll.
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