1.3 What is immuno-inclusivity, and what does it have to do with opera?

Immuno-inclusivity is an emerging field that brings together accessibility and disability justice, labour justice, environmental justice, public health, and occupational health & safety. While the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the intersections of health, safety, and access, immuno-inclusivity also addresses other ongoing and emergent challenges such as:

• Allergies, asthma, and environmental sensitivities
• New variants of some communicable diseases (e.g., influenza, COVID-19) and the resurgence of others (e.g., measles, polio)
• Climate change hazards (e.g., smog, wildfire smoke, novel pathogens and diseases spreading into new regions)

Opera and live music are high-risk environments for many immunological hazards. Performers and crew members often occupy crowded areas, especially backstage, and touch many shared items such as costumes and props. Singing itself produces many invisible aerosolized particles, amplifying transmission risks for airborne pathogens and potentially leading to outbreaks and “superspreader” events.^{Footnote 4} The increased hazards of group singing have been recognized in international health & safety standards: for example, ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, states that if a space involves “group vocalization above a conversational level,” the amount of clean air per person must be doubled to manage the risk of airborne infection.^{Footnote 5}

Cheering, dense crowds, and indoor events all facilitate airborne illness transmission, with live audiences presenting a significant risk to performers compared to parallel sectors (e.g., film or recorded music).^{Footnote 6} The livelihoods of singers and wind instrument players depend on their respiratory health, which can be endangered by airborne contaminants like mould, wildfire smoke, chemical pollutants, and germs.^{Footnote 7}

Performing artists and backstage workers also face increased risks for systemic and sectoral reasons. Many are contractors, with limited benefits and job security.^{Footnote 8} Early pandemic shutdowns highlighted the financial precarity faced by workers, companies, and venues—precarity that often leaves workers with limited options to self-advocate, particularly if they already face other forms of marginalization.^{Footnote 9} These inequities also tend to worsen health outcomes, as they intersect with social and commercial determinants of health.^{Footnote 10}

Performing arts organizations often look to authorities like unions and public health agencies when drafting health & safety policies, but existing guidance may be limited, outdated, or inapplicable to live music industry contexts. As a result, workers often must shoulder disproportionate burdens of both risk and self-advocacy (see: 2.3 Artists’ Experiences), even as companies and venues face their own risks of liability, work stoppages, and performance cancellations.