“The urgency has been there for two years,” Allen says, “but I think when some organizations didn’t improve their ventilation strategy and maybe got lucky in the past, the margin of luck has run out with Omicron.” LaPook offers an analogy that concisely depicts that continued urgency: “If somebody were 15 feet away from you in a room that’s poorly ventilated, and they were smoking, would you be able to smell smoke 15 feet away? Of course. Well, the same thing is true with the virus.”

Physically, theatres are a challenging structure to navigate ventilation protocols, as spaces rang from cavernous auditoriums to cramped backstage spaces. The former helps reduce the risk of performer-to-audience transmission, especially when everyone is vaccinated, performers have tested negative, and audiences are masked. However, this may not be the case behind the scenes. “These are tight quarters,” Allen explains. “This is where you’re going to want to really be sure your ventilation and filtration are working well…in fact, if you’ve thought about the highest risk targets or locations, it would be back there.”

Both doctors go into some safety practices focused on improving ventilation, including upgraded filters and filtration monitors. LaPook emphasizes, however, that in addition to implementing these protocols, they need to be communicated, especially as it’s a step not as visible as, say, a doorman checking vaccination cards, a mask over every face, or plexiglass barriers at bars. “There’s got to be transparency,” he says. “It’s got to be clearly communicated to the audience, to the actors.”