My band is booked May-September at an outdoor amusement park, and we are required to wear facemasks even when singing. The sax player may slip his mask down when playing but has to put it on when not playing his horn. The stage is very large, about six feet above the open air dance floor. These rules seems a bit a bit over the top, but I understand, we have to be a good example to the guests, and I do believe mask wearing is an important element in slowing down COVID.

On the other hand I am also playing at a church on Sunday mornings, and absolutely nobody is wearing a mask. This is indoors. I am the only one in the whole church with a mask. I am vaccinated, but it does concern me. The things I do to keep on working!

can't be too safe. It's just for a little while longer then all will be well. Just thank god you have a job.
MEL

Outdoors is much safer than the CDC has acknowledged. There was a good article in the NY Times this morning about quantifying these risks. All that being said, I guess it's best to follow the rules. I do think outdoor mask restrictions will be relaxed soon.

Yes, Mel and Ted, it's better to be safe than sorry. I have no problem trying to set a good example but it's not easy singing in in mask especially in the Texas heat! Hopefully by the time the summer heat really sets in, the park will relax the mask requirements. But either way, I am happy to be working and have no problem following rules.

Totally, unutterably, ridiculous to say the very least. They keep saying follow the science, but then come up with this kind of crap and expect people to swallow it, hook, line and sinker. Ironically, the bureaucrats that make up these rules and regulations have absolutely no background in medical science, do not have a clue to how diseases are transmitted, and don't follow their own rules and guidelines themselves. The odds of contracting any type of flu or virus from these distances are zip to none. Any second year med student knows this. "Trust me - I'm a politician and I would never lie to you." Maybe it's time for the politicos to actually look at the CDC and other agency guidelines before opening their mouths.

Gary

Sounds more like corporate ass covering than government overreach to me!

The problem seems to be the strong resistance to any form of mandated proof of vaccination, as if that’s any more restrictive than mandated proof of a driving license or proof of voter registration. A form of proof of full vaccination would allow us to gather unmasked with others in the same situation, which is getting upwards of 35% of the population nowadays.

What better incentive to get vaccinated, the ability to unmask in public?! To be able to enjoy public gatherings of fully vaccinated people, to go to concerts, sporting events, restaurants and bars?

But the Luddites with their objection to mandated proof are ruining for everyone. And I wouldn’t put it past them to use fakes even if there were vax proof cards.

Tell you what… if you don’t feel we should have to carry vax cards, don’t drive, don’t drink, don’t vote, don’t go to the pot dispensary, cause those impose on your ‘freedom’ too!

Amen

They all have their agendas, which consists of money and power. Luckily, Florida is open and we can use our own discretion about masks. I don't mind a mask at stores that gets orders from above. The far bigger picture of clashes at the government level is a different story.

Texas is open too, but business owners can decide on mask polices.

A guest in the park came up to my wife after our set and seemed to suggest that we were caving into left wing extremists views for wearing our masks outside while performing, we just laughed and politely said it was company policy.

Here's a picture of us performing masked up in the park, in the Texas heat. Hopefully by summer they will relax their policy.

https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/show/el-grupo-cache

I agree for the most part. In this case I think the park is probably trying to protect themselves from lawsuits, perhaps from people who claim that they got the virus at the park because of no mask enforcements. It's the classic "cover your ass" scenario.

Anyways it always good to hear from you Gary, and hang in there my dear friend.

Let’s face it, the last global pandemic (unless you count AIDS, and that’s a whole different kettle of fish) was a century ago, and it’s not really fair on the CDC to expect them to have a flawless playbook with clear unequivocal advice for what to do. They are having to respond to less than zealous following of their advice in the first place, it has become obvious that every time we relaxed from their initial advice we got a huge spike in infections and diverted from the path their advice was supposed to take us.

So there’s always been this less than rigid advice, because people weren’t following it to the letter. No doubt the same people blaming the CDC for being flexible with their advice would be criticizing them had their advice remained rigid..! It’s so much easier to blame others than look in a mirror!

It’s educational to read about America’s response to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918- The same mask fatigue and idiotic resistance to being told what to do by doctors and politicians led to the same spikes in infection and death we have seen this time around.

So much for ‘progress’ by the people..! Thank God at least science came up with an effective vaccine so quickly this time. Science progresses, but people are the same dumb animals they’ve always been!

The good news is, brand new CDC guidelines…. No masking necessary whatsoever for the fully vaccinated. Yay. No watch the idiots that haven’t been vaccinated turn that into another spike in infections as they lie about having had the shots so they can go unmasked. 🤔🥺🙄

Good point, so how are the businesses going to know who is who. The idea of vaccination cards has pretty much been discarded, but I carry my papers in my wallet,

I have a picture of both sides of my vac card on my phone. My original card is safely at home.
MEL

Good thinking, Mel.

Diki, every person that I know that has received the vaccine has a card showing they have been fully vaccinated. No different than showing a drivers license to rent a car, etc... And, those of us that have children had to show proof of vaccination for various childhood diseases for our kids to enter school. There is nothing complicated about this, and we don't really need a bunch of politicians to make the decisions on that precautions we should take. Keep in mind that tuberculosis is far more contagious and deadly, yet we didn't have to shut down an entire nation in order to work through this and find a cure for the disease. In all the years I worked in the field of medicine, one thing stood out. Common sense was probably the best guideline for wellness. Unfortunately, common sense is not very common these days. And, I don't know about the rest of the forum members, but I would never let a politician remove my appendix, or even an ingrown toenail, for that matter.

Paul, you are a great entertainer/musician and I'm confident that you and your wife pulled this off without a hitch. Congratulations, young man.

Gary

Requiring masks for singers outdoors on a stage is really nuts. Aerosole science is clear that there is zero infection risk in that scenario.
Walmart‘s decision to drop mask mandate for all customers is dangerous in contrast. Another example of how irrational society as a whole deals with the virus.
[Added:] If courts take account of science, no visitor would be able to successfully sue an event organizer claiming he/she was infected by someone from an outdoor stage.

What you may have missed, Gary, no longer traveling to my Florida, is that we have a Governor that has made it illegal for any business or State entity to even ASK for proof of vaccination. He is turning away cruise lines that want to make it safe to go cruise (and work on cruise ships) because they wish to restrict passengers to those who have been fully vaccinated.

Now THAT’S what I would call stupid, erring on the side of the idiots that won’t vaccinate because they bought into the Big Lie.

+++1.

What's even more dangerous than the virus is the dessemination of misinformation (usually politically motivated) by non-credentialed people who think they know more than the MD's and Phd's with years of legitimate, accredited research under their belts. The question is, does your "Patriotic Rights" include the right to endanger your fellow citizens (who choose to follow the official guidelines and the law)? Just my opinion.

Thanks Gary, especially for the "young man" reference So far, the only hitch besides the silly mask rule, is inclement weather (rain and a tornado warning) and the heat of the sun, which will only get worse as we enter the summer months. But it is great to working, so I'll stop complaining!

Yes, you got to wonder who makes up these rules? But I'll keep wearing my mask at the outdoor park because I want to work, and I'll also keep wearing my mask at Walmart just to be safe.

Their are times that government can, and should make rules that provide for general safety, like seat belts, smoke alarms, and yes masks during a pandemic. If the government reduces the mask wearing mandate, it does not mean business's MUST follow. To have the government (Florida) force business's to abolish any mask mandates is really kind of a tyranny government.


Paul, it is confusing, but if the sax player is allowed to slip down his mask, maybe singers should be allowed to also. Just ask the business who hired you, and go with that.

jmo

Yeah, it's weird, but singers (even outdoors at the park) must wear masks) Mine kind of slipped below my nose while I was singing, without me realizing, and I got a stern reminder to keep my mouth and nose fully covered at all times. So we've learned to sing with masks on, just making the best of it, and I hope these rules become more sensible was we move forward.

It's funny, the guys in the band were joking around saying "remember when musicians would complain when we had to wear tuxes and bow ties?" Nowadays it's the mask.

It looks like the new CDC guidelines, essentially ALL fully vaccinated personnel don’t need masks at all, should make moot what you are having to face at this time. As long as the band is fully vaxxed, the risk to both you AND the audience from you is negligible,…

Time to renegotiate, my friends….

CDC guidelines, with guidelines being the keyword. If it's not a direct safety violation, mandated by law, business's are allowed to make rules "No shirt, no service" "No mask, no singing", etc. .....

Well, hopefully, businesses are looking to their bottom line, and a return to normalcy ASAP. I don’t see how they would actually profit from putting off a large percentage of their business base by insisting full masking now the CDC has opened the floodgates.

Doesn’t hurt to have a conversation with the entertainment director…

Well, we just had to be patient.... last weekend they finally lifted the mask requirements. It's a relief to perform without the mask, but at the same time I feel bit "naked" without it on after a year. I forgot how some of my band mates looked, and we joked "you look better with a mask"

Yep. Figured that was coming.

As to the risk to unvaccinated attendees, who cares? Thinning the herd of the dumb isn’t the worst thing for our country!

Diki, I sympathize with your frustrations but I'm sure you didn't REALLY mean that. There are many reasons why some people have not been vaccinated (although I can't think of too many legitimate ones); still, I don't want to reach "herd immunity" by having them all die off. Again, I know that you don't wish that either.

chas

PS: Look at the 'shots' we HAVE to take as kids to enter the public school system. I don't understand why this wouldn't fall under the same general policy guidelines.

Naturally, those with LEGITIMATE reasons to not vaccinate (that is, medical reasons, not political or philosophical ones) still need to mask up, but quite honestly, just like any other self inflicted health problem like lung cancer from smoking, cirrhosis from chronic alcoholism or diabetes from morbid obesity, it’s hard to feel much sympathy towards those who deliberately take a path with a high likelihood of it causing their death or major bodily damage.

The main difference between other self inflicted health problems and Covid is that, on the whole, the only person to suffer was the person with the self destructive behavior. Not so with Covid, where prior to widespread vaccination availability, those deliberately ignoring mask mandates and social distancing enabled the spread of the disease and caused the death of countless others…

So, you’ll forgive me but I can’t honestly come up with much sympathy or desire for the well-being of a type of person that deliberately chose a course of behavior that caused the deaths of many millions of people worldwide. The world would be a safer place with them no longer in the gene pool.

We are such an interconnected planet these days, and Covid is by no means the only worldwide disease event (MERS, AIDS, SARS and Ebola are recent events that show Covid isn’t a lone event) that this is a problem we are likely to face again in the pretty near future. The fewer people who will actively resist the sensible precautions that prevent minor outbreaks turning into global pandemics that survive this outbreak, the more will survive the next one.

That’s not a bad thing, in my book…