Immuno-Inclusivity in Opera

Artist Experiences, Practices, and Barriers

2.1 Early pandemic practices

Part 2: Artist Experiences, Practices, and Barriers: contents
  1. 2.1 Early pandemic practices
  2. 2.2 Removal of protections
  3. 2.3 Artists’ experiences
  4. 2.4 The path forward
  5. 2.5 Prevention principles

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic brought profound hardship for many. Alongside the immense health and human toll, the need to limit gatherings and cancel performances was devastating for performing arts organizations and individual careers.84 Many in the sector have faced slow audience return85 and ongoing economic challenges.86 With the benefit of hindsight, many experts also acknowledge gaps in early pandemic practices and protections, arguing they should inform future pandemic responses.87

At the same time, some early-pandemic community safeguards had benefits beyond the immediate prevention of COVID spread. Remote work options improved accessibility for many and reduced carbon emissions.88 Normalizing the need to “stay home when sick” resulted in some concrete policy supports, such as when British Columbia introduced five days of permanent paid sick leave in 2022.89 Widespread mask use and other protective measures reduced not only COVID-19 but other infectious illnesses, potentially helping to eliminate an entire influenza strain.90 Some individuals and organizations received critical financial support, albeit with inequities.91

In an unprecedented time, many in the arts and entertainment sector came together in an unprecedented way. To foster safer reopening, Broadway and the film industry created landmark multi-union and employer COVID safety agreements, with the film agreement being notable for early adoption of airborne protections such as respirators and ventilation practices.92 This approach resulted in some significant health & safety successes, such as large-scale, months-long productions with zero occurrences of COVID-19.93

As our immunological hazard landscape keeps evolving, it’s worth remembering the innovations of the early pandemic years—not just the hardships—and considering how some tools and practices could help achieve greater immuno-inclusivity today.

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Footnotes (10)

  1. Canada, Canadian Heritage, “The Arts, Culture and Heritage Sectors During the Covid-19 Pandemic,” Canadian Heritage, last modified June 16, 2022, https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/corporate/transparency/open-government/standing-committee/rodriguez-canadian-heritage/arts-culture-heritage-covid.html; Shelly-Anne Li et al., “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canadian Performing and Creative Artists: An Interpretive Descriptive Study Using the Social-Ecological Model,” PLOS One 19, no. 9 (2024): e0310369, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310369; Samantha K. Brooks and Sonny S. Patel, “Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Performing Artists During COVID-19 Lockdown: Scoping Review,” Social Sciences & Humanities Open 6, no. 1 (2022): 100297, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100297; Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, COVID-19 Impact Survey: British Columbia Arts and Culture Sector Summary Report (Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, 2020),

    https://www.gvpta.ca/news?trumbaEmbed=eventid%3D145248531%26view%3Devent%26-childview%3D.

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  2. Kevin MacLean, “State of the Shaw: Audience Slow to Return to Pre-COVID Levels,” Niagara Now, November 16, 2023, https://niagaranow.com/arts.phtml/state-of-the-shaw-audience-slow-to-return-to-pre-covid-levels/; Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, British Columbia Arts & Culture Sector COVID-19 Impact Report Fall 2021 (Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, 2021), 31–35, https://musicbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GVPTA-Sector-Impact-Report-November_30_2021.pdf; “New Covid-19 Data Shows Audiences Slow to Return to Live Events,” Centre for Cultural Value, last modified August 13, 2021, https://www.culturalvalue.org.uk/new-covid-19-data-shows-audiences-slow-to-return-to-live-events/. Back to text

  3. “The Growing Challenges for Arts Nonprofits: A Call for Partnership and Support,” Pancouver, January 7, 2025, https://pancouver.ca/the-growing-challenges-for-arts-nonprofits-a-call-for-partnership-and-support/; Cultural Policy Hub at OCAD University, Stories We Tell: Data Narratives and Organizational Financial Precarity in Canada’s Arts, Culture and Heritage Sector (Cultural Policy Hub, OCAD University, 2025), 53–55,

    https://culturalpolicyhub.ocadu.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/Hub_MAPDOC_LitReview_Report_FINAL_EN.pdf.

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  4. Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition, Proposals to Strengthen Canada’s Pandemic Response: Discussion Feedback, Moving Forward (Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition, 2022), https://www.aerosoltransmissioncoalition.ca/_files/ugd/cdecb4_a0b71070f9174c6a943cbff011e73580.pdf; Lidia Morawska et al., “Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic for Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality,” Science 385, no. 6707 (2024): 396–401, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp2241; Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press, “Canada Must Act Now to Be Prepared for the Next Health Emergency, New Pandemic Report Warns,” CBC News, October 16, 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/pandemic-report-canada-1.7353743. Back to text
  5. Vanessa Monteiro et al., “The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Greenhouse Gases: a Multi-City Analysis of In Situ Atmospheric Observations,” Environmental Research Communications 4, no. 4 (2022): 041004, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ac66cb. Back to text
  6. “Paid Sick Leave,” Government of British Columbia, last modified January 10, 2022, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/paid-sick-leave. Back to text
  7. Dhaval Adjodah et al., “Association Between COVID-19 Outcomes and Mask Mandates, Adherence, and Attitudes,” PLOS One 16, no. 6 (2021): e0252315, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252315; Wenjie Han et al., “Unraveling the Mechanism Behind the Probable Extinction of the B/Yamagata Lineage of Influenza B Viruses,” Nature Communications 16 (2025): 10440, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65396-6. Back to text

  8. Canadian Heritage, “The Arts, Culture and Heritage Sectors”; Li et al., “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” 7–8;

    Andrea Burke, “Who Won and Lost with the Canada Emergency Response Benefit,” Policy Options, March 15, 2023, https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2023/03/cerb-winners-losers/; Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco, “CERB ‘a Slap in the Face’ for Ontarians Scraping By on Disability Payments,” CBC News, May 3, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/covid19-odsp-wage-benefits-1.5552060.

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  9. Rossol, “Comparison of Two,” 172–75. Back to text
  10. Monona Rossol, “Follow-up to ‘Comparison of Two Entertainment Industry COVID-19 Programs’,” New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy 33, no. 1 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1177/10482911231159157. Back to text
Part 2: Artist Experiences, Practices, and Barriers: contents
  1. 2.1 Early pandemic practices
  2. 2.2 Removal of protections
  3. 2.3 Artists’ experiences
  4. 2.4 The path forward
  5. 2.5 Prevention principles