my day job involves reviewing COVID research to come up with public health messaging. i’m wary of telling people what they should or shouldn’t do, but since toronto comedians are getting sick and this can actually be a serious illness for young people i sorta feel obliged to:

basically, evidence now shows that smaller droplets carrying the virus can travel further than 6ft. masks are great at preventing this - so salon trips/grocery shopping are fine - but when masks come off inside it means that distancing and wiping down tables goes out the window.

even if an indoor show is “safe” and everyone is seated far apart, these kinds of droplets can travel. they’ll travel further if people are expelling them faster by laughing. the longer you’re in that enclosed space, the riskier it gets.

an hour-long comedy show is an ideal environment for transmission. even if venues "follow all the rules", this means nothing when the rules are being made by politicians who want to keep our economy open at all costs.

i know it’s hard cos we want to support venues, but... there’s no real way to make this safe. we are putting people's lives at risk so we can keep telling jokes on stage. it's! not! worth it!!

this doesn't mean we should lock ourselves inside and have a panic attack; there's ways to be social and stay safe. but indoor events aren't it. live comedy will still be here when this is all over - let's make sure comedians are too.

more on the tiny droplets (a pre-published study from august): https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.03.20167395v1

a case study on mask efficacy (hair stylists with COVID who didn’t pass it on to any of their clients): https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm