The authorities are working to mark out the framework for the resumption of concerts and shows, which can be held at 50% of the capacity of the halls with a maximum of 500 spectators from February 7. But activities will not resume as they stopped in December.
Two new documents will frame the terms of the resumption of shows. “The details surrounding the sanitary relaxations remain to be confirmed with the adoption of the decree and, therefore, the official information will be put online for public consultation as soon as the decree is issued and the approval of Public Health”, indicates to the Duty the Department of Communications and Public Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Communications. This decree is expected before February 7. Furthermore, the CNESST guide for the performing arts, performance halls and cinemas, originally expected for January 17, has just been updated. The new terms, negotiated in recent weeks, were posted on the site in the middle of last week.
On the scene
For orchestras, what changes is the obligation for musicians and conductors to “wear a quality mask at all times”. The distance is one meter, except for two categories, singers and wind instruments, who “must keep a distance of 2 meters from other people”. These specific provisions now take precedence over the tolerance for “stable bubbles”, which made it possible to reduce distances and remove masks within a stable group of vaccinated artists. These standards, which will take effect on February 7, make no mention of adding rapid tests to the various requirements and precautions.
Some orchestras, such as the Metropolitan, however thought of restoring an additional distance, that is to say 1.5 meters between the string instrumentalists, as has been done in France since the Omicron surge. But since the Maison symphonique stage was reduced to its original size at the beginning of December, will Yannick Nézet-Séguin be able to program and record his 4and Symphony of Sibelius on February 11 with strings at 1.5 meters and winds at 2 meters? We can’t wait to see Zubin Mehta’s video at the OSM with the Wagnerian brass arsenal in these conditions. Last I heard, there were no plans to expand the board again.
Mask or face covering
On the public side, the framework will come from the decree being drafted. The most watched measure will be the long-awaited alignment of the means of protection on stage and in the room. It would make a lot of sense for everyone to be subject to “quality masks”, a term used by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ). The word “face covering”, which the INSPQ has long pointed out as ineffective in the context of prolonged contact, could thus be removed from the texts. Wearing a mask will be “compulsory at all times”, according to the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
The latter also tells us that “spectators must be seated at all times”. The issue of seated and silent spectators is a public health issue. The French study ComCor, from the Institut Pasteur and Public Health in France, quantified in November 2021 at 340% the “excess risk” of a discotheque-type activity compared to a concert. Standing concerts with a non-silent audience can be assimilated to this activity, which is very distinct from an evening at the theater or a film screening. There is therefore a strong scientific legitimacy to distinguish the two.
The crucial question of the moment, the reassessment period after the first phase at half capacity and 500 spectators, arises for the entire artistic community. Until now, the Public Health unit of time in equivalent circumstances has traditionally been three weeks. The duty has not been able to verify, among other things, this crucial data, because the Ministry of Health and Social Services has repeatedly refused us an interview with the senior strategic medical adviser of the General Directorate of Health public, the DD Marie-France Raynault, who has been leading health issues in the performing arts since the start of the pandemic.
With Sarah R. Champagne