NATO Proposed Health and Safety Guidelines

[Carsten Kurz]

I haven't seen this being mentioned on the forum, so...

NATO COVID-19 Guidance, 8.6.2020.pdf

However, as this is NATO Guidance, does that follow or encourage nationwide regulations? E.g. if patrons need to wear face masks throughout the building AND the entire movie as indicated in this document, how do they expect the public to even consider movie-going again?

[Martin Brooks]

There aren't national regulations in the U.S. And even when there are State or local regulations, while they're frequently enforced against businesses, there isn't much enforcement against people. So for example, if a restaurant permits patrons to sit down in NYC, the City will close the restaurant. But if some people aren't wearing masks in the street, and a police officer happens to be there, the police will not do anything because wearing masks outdoors is not a regulation, it's just a recommendation. But if they enter a retailer where masks are required, they might.

It will vary considerably by state, by I don't think most theaters are going to be able to open anytime soon. In NYC, museums can open around August 28th, but with timed admissions. Same for zoos and aquariums. But there are no plans yet to open theaters. IIRC, Broadway legitimate theaters aren't planning to reopen until January. And all that is in spite of the fact that new infections in NYC are down to about 250 per day, but we seem too have a problem getting below that. Personally, I think theaters could open if they only seat every other row and every second for third seat. Most NYC theaters are empty during the week during normal times anyway.

Worldwide, AMC, the largest chain, only sells 92 tickets per day per screen. if they average four shows a day, that's only 23 tickets per show, although it's probably much larger in the big cities.

[Leo Enticknap]

This document looks like a CYA exercise to me. Without wanting to stray too far into the political realm, it now looks like the Republicans' proposal for qualified immunity for businesses (i.e. a federal law preventing you from suing a business if you get the coronavirus as the result of working for it or being a customer of it) is dead in the water. Therefore, any business that does re-open its doors to the public will need to be able to persuade a jury that it did everything needed to make a case that the customer or employee took primary assumption of the risk. Being able to show that you not only complied with every applicable state and local requirement, but you also complied with an industry code of conduct that gold plated those requirements, would go a long way to achieving that, I would guess.