(New York) The prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York, closed since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, announced on Tuesday that it would ask the public and all its technical and musical teams to be vaccinated for the start of the next season, scheduled for September.
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“The Met will be a fully vaccinated home. The public will have to show proof of complete vaccination, approved by the FDA (United States Medicines Agency) or WHO (World Health Organization) in order to enter the building, ”writes the Met Opera in an email sent to its members. .
“All artists and members of the orchestra, choirs and teams will have to do the same,” adds opera, the largest employer in the United States in the field of live performance, with more than 3,000 employees.
The opera adds that such a measure will, in accordance with the current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), achieve “full capacity” for the public and that “protective masks will be optional”. But, against the backdrop of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, the CDC, the main federal public health agency, recommended Tuesday the wearing of masks indoors in public places in areas considered at risk, even for fully vaccinated people.
The announcement to its Met Opera members comes amid the debate over mandatory vaccination in the United States. On Monday, New York City Hall and the State of California announced that their officials should be vaccinated, or test negative for COVID-19 every week, starting September 13 for New York (300,000 officials) and August 21 in California (240,000 officials).
In New York City, City Hall also announced Tuesday that “proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required” to enter the large outdoor concert scheduled for August 21 in Central Park, starring Bruce Springsteen, Andrea Bocelli, Patti Smith, Jennifer Hudson, Wyclef Jean, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana and LL Cool J among others.
So far, Broadway has not made a collective announcement, but among the first shows to resume, Springsteen à Broadway (since June 26) and Pass Over (August 4) require the public to be vaccinated.
The 2021-22 season is set to kick off on September 27 at the Met, which will premiere an opera composed by a black musician, Fire Shut Up in My Bones de Terence Blanchard.
During the pandemic, the opera house has been rocked by social tensions, with management wanting to lower wages to support declining revenues.
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