I’m baffled by what exactly is going through the minds of the leadership team at the Philadelphia Orchestra. But when the CDC has already advised that masks aren’t necessary and 99% of the people are only wearing ineffective cloth masks, is this really making a difference? And if the people at risk are wearing a mask and they’re vaccinated, aren’t they as safe as they can be? Should they even be attending a public event if they’re so concerned with their health? Maybe - at least during these “risky” times - watching one of the many online performances the orchestra makes available to its fans would be a “safer” choice for them? Am I being selfish? Or are they? You can argue that the orchestra attracts an older demographic, so making everyone wear a mask is for their safety.
Being a Philadelphian, we’re pretty used to that anyway. Sugar’s comments aside, I informally polled a handful of friends and came away with similar opinions: Given a choice between wearing a sweaty mask for three hours listening to Beethoven or watching the Flyers lose again at the Wells Fargo Center (where masks are no longer required) all would prefer to watch our team lose. “Had I looked, I would have known that there was still a mask mandate in place, and I wouldn’t have bought a ticket.” “I was so excited to see a performance of ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ at New York City Center with a group of girlfriends that I never checked the theater’s website for its COVID policies,” writes New York-based Rebecca Sugar in The Wall Street Journal.
Or that the orchestra is the only arts organization making these dubious business decisions. That, to me, is a nonstarter, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one that feels the same way. And yet, astonishingly, the orchestra is still making its visitors not only prove that they’re vaccinated … but also wear masks inside their facility and during their performances.